Tennis: Ferreira falls to Hlasek

TWO seeds perished and a third was in danger of defeat in the second round of the rain-interrupted South African Open at Sun City yesterday, 24 hours after Britain's Mark Petchey sent the top seed, Michael Stich, crashing out of the tournament.

The fifth seed, Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, fell 7-6, 5-7, 6-2 to Switzerland's Jakob Hlasek, while Hendrik Dreekman of Germany needed only two sets to dispose of the No 7 seed, Amos Mansdorf of Israel.

When rain returned to halt play for the day, the second seed, Thomas Muster of Austria, was none too happily poised at one set all in his match with Byron Black of Zimbabwe. Black ran away with the first set 6-1 and had chances to wrap up the match in the second before Muster clawed his way back by taking the tie-break 7-5.

Christian Bergstrom of Sweden maintained his impressive form by beating Germany's Alexander Mronz 6-1, 6-4, while Markus Zoecke of Germany beat Lars Jonsson of Sweden 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Ivan Lendl was beaten in straight sets by the French qualifier, Lionel Roux, in the second round of the Salem Open in Osaka, Japan. Lendl's opponent, ranked only 210 in the world, sped to a 4-0 lead in the first set, breaking the 34-year-old veteran's serve in the second. 'I know him (and) have seen him a lot on television. . .he plays better when he leads,' said Roux, who won 6-3, 6-3. 'My tactic was to play better first.'

Turmoil in British tennis, page 17

Results, Sporting Digest, page 35