Tennis Roundup : Sznajder Surprises Doohan in First Round at Montreal

Unseeded Andrew Sznajder of Canada rallied from a three-game deficit in the final set Tuesday to upset 16th-seeded Peter Doohan of Australia in the first round of the $300,000 Player’s International tournament at Montreal.

Doohan, who upset Boris Becker at Wimbledon, was leading, 5-2, in the third set when Sznajder began a series of brilliant passing shots that enabled him to win, 7-6, 2-6, 7-6.

“I was just trying to hang in there because anything can happen in this game,” said Sznajder, who competed as a freshman for Pepperdine last spring. “I’ve been in a lot of games where things turn around if you keep at it.

“That’s what I tried to do and it paid off for me.”

Sznajder tied the final set at 5-5, and then fell behind, 6-5, before rallying to win the 12th game and the tiebreaker.

“Toward the end of the match, I was surprised he was so good under pressure,” Doohan said. “I thought he would crack.

In a night match, second-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden struggled to a 7-5, 7-6 victory over Canada’s Chris Pridham, ranked No. 169 in the world. Edberg needed six match points in the tiebreaker to end the match.

In other first-round matches, 11th-seeded Johan Kriek defeated Mike Leach, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5, and 14th-seeded Tim Wilkison was upset by Richey Reneberg, 6-4, 6-4.

Most of the top-seeded players, such as Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Jimmy Connors, Pat Cash and John McEnroe, received byes and were to start second-round play today.

At Prague, top-seeded Miloslav Mecir was upset in the $180,000 Nabisco Grand Prix tournament by fellow Czech Jaroslav Navratil, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6.

Mecir, ranked fifth in the world, had already showed signs of being off top form last Sunday when he lost to Spain’s Emilio Sanchez in the final of a tournament at Kitzbuhel, Austria.

Navratil said that he took advantage of the weariness he noticed in Mecir.

“It gave me a big chance,” Navratil said. “I did my best, and especially my first serves were a success.”

Second-seeded Martin Jaite of Argentina was upset in the first round of a $117,000 Grand Prix tournament at Saint Vincent, Italy, losing to 20-year-old countryman Christian Miniussi, 6-4, 7-5.

“We’ve played dozens of times and I’ve always won,” Jaite said. “Today it was his turn.”