Tennis Roundup : Connors Fights His Way Into the Quarterfinals

Top-seeded Jimmy Connors advanced to the quarterfinals of the $315,000 U.S. National Indoor Championships Thursday night, but Leif Shiras made him earn it, 6-7, 6-2, 7-6.

Connors, the defending champion, was down 5-2 in the third set in tournament at Memphis, Tenn., before he began a rally that forced the 23-year-old Shiras into a tiebreaker.

Connors went ahead, 3-0, in the tiebreaker, but Shiras tied it at 3, 4 and 5 before losing, 7-5.

Fourth-seeded Johan Kriek wasn’t as fortunate as Connors and fell to unseeded Greg Holmes, a 21-year-old from Danville, Calif., 3-6, 7-6, 6-3.

Holmes, who is ranked 44th among the world’s tennis pros after a little more than a year on the tour, had to come from behind for the victory.

In other matches, second-seeded Eliot Teltscher downed Ramesh Krishnan of India, 6-3, 6-1; third-seeded Yannick Noah of France eliminated Tim Gullikson, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3; 11th-seeded Brad Gilbert defeated Jay Lapidus, 6-1, 6-4, and ninth-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden beat Marty Davis, 7-6, 6-0.

Kriek said Holmes turned the tide in the second set with two outstanding shots, a running backhand and a running forehand.

“He came up with two pretty good shots,” Kriek said. “I played them technically correct, but he got the ball by me.”

Holmes said he thought he was on the way out during the first set.

“In the first set, I wasn’t even coming close to breaking his serve,” Holmes said. In the second set, he said, “I hit probably the best backhand of my life. . . . He kept getting mad.”

Holmes said his play has been improving in the past few months.

“I’m playing more consistently,” he said.

Holmes reached the third round of the U.S. Pro Indoor at Philadelphia last week after eliminating the tournament’s third-seeded player, Mats Wilander of Sweden, 6-4, 6-3.

Mareen Louie continued her string of upsets by beating Sweden’s top player, Caterina Lindvquist, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, in a $140,000 tournament at Marco Island, Fla., and top-seeded Kathy Jordan advanced with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Catherine Tanvier.

Louie won in Denver two weeks ago and posted impressive victories in Florida last week before falling to the eventual winner, Chris Evert Lloyd.