TENNIS ROUNDUP : Connors Continues Comeback With Comeback Win

Jimmy Connors struggled 2 1/2 hours Wednesday to join fellow American John McEnroe and Sweden’s Stefan Edberg in the third round of the Japan Open at Tokyo.

The 38-year-old Connors, playing in his third tournament since wrist surgery in October, bounced back in the second set by spraying shots to both corners as he beat Australian Wally Masur, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5.

McEnroe beat Slobodan Zivojinovic of Yugoslavia, 6-1, 6-4, taking the second set with a break in the ninth game.

The top-seeded Edberg committed four double-faults and had to overcome a 2-4 second-set deficit to defeat Kelly Evernden of New Zealand, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2), on the hard court at the Ariake Colosseum.

Second-seeded Ivan Lendl, firing eight aces, held off Ramesh Krishnan of India, 6-3, 6-2.

Third-seeded Brad Gilbert beat Grant Connell of Canada, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3), and Jim Courier, seeded fourth, beat fellow American Jim Grabb, 6-7, (9-7), 6-2, 6-3.

Fifth-seeded Michael Chang romped over Australian qualifier John Fitzgerald, 6-0, 6-0, and Tim Mayotte eliminated Michael Stich of Germany, 7-5, 6-4.

Boris Becker, preparing for next month’s French Open and playing in his first clay-court match of the season, defeated Jean-Philippe Fleurian, 7-5, 6-1, in the Count of Godo tournament in Barcelona, Spain.

“At this time, what really interests me is making contact with the clay court to see what kind of shape I’m in,” the top-seeded Becker said.

His next opponent will be Spain’s Sergi Bruguera, who defeated Carl Uwe Steeb, 6-4, 6-1.

Defending champion Steffi Graf needed only 55 minutes to defeat fellow German Isabel Cueto, 6-1, 6-1, at the $350,000 women’s tournament at Amelia Island, Fla.

Fourth-seeded Zina Garrison survived a tough second-round match with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory over Italian Laura Garrone.

Seventh-seeded Leila Meskhi of the Soviet Union, who defeated Jennifer Capriati and Martina Navratilova en route to reaching last week’s final at Hilton Head, shut out Andrea Temesvari, 6-0, 6-0.