Sabatini Beats Kelesi in First Round Gunze Match

YOKOHAMA, Japan —  Gabriela Sabatini used a powerful service game to romp past Helen Kelesi 6-0, 6-3 today in the first round of the Gunze World tournament.

Sabatini, the third-ranked woman in the world, fired an ace in the first game and took it without losing a point. The Argentine teen-ager broke Kelesi in the second, fourth and sixth games to take the first set.

In another women’s Gunze first-round singles match, Miyagi Nana of Japan needed just 55 minutes to trounce American Halle Cioffi 6-2, 6-3.

Cioffi said it was her first match in eight weeks after breaking a rib in a car accident in the United States.

In the first round of the men’s singles in Japan, Jim Grabb lost the first set but rallied to take a second set tie-breaker and went on to beat American compatriot Brad Gilbert 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.

On Friday, Jimmy Connors is to meet fellow American Jim Courier in the men’s singles, and Larisa Savchenko of the Soviet Union is to play Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria in the women’s singles.

The singles winners in the men’s and women’s matches each will receive $40,000 out of a total purse of $250,000.

The tourney is to move to Osaka on Saturday, and the finals are to be held Sunday.

Swiss Open Action

At the $305,000 Swiss Open men’s tennis tournament in Gstaad, No. 2 seed Aaron Krickstein of the United States beat unseeded Czechoslovak Martin Strelba 6-2, 6-3 in second-round play today.

In Friday’s quarterfinals, Krickstein, a 21-year-old ranked 13th in the world, is to meet eighth-seeded Carl Uwe Steeb of West Germany.

Steeb, the No. 28 player in the world, ousted Cassio Motta of Brazil, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (11-9) in their second-round match.

In another upset, Udo Riglewski of West Germany reached the quarterfinals by outlasting Spain’s Emilio Sanchez, the third seed.