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Top Players Keep On Falling

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana -- Seeded players are having a very tough time at the RCA Men's Hardcourt Championships this week.


Top-seeded Goran Ivanisevic joined defending champion Jim Courier on Wednesday in the ranks of upset victims at the Indianapolis Tennis Center.


Doubles specialist Mark Woodforde of Australia defeated Ivanisevic, the world's second-ranked player, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. A day earlier, unseeded Alex Corretja of Spain beat Courier, seeded fifth.


Also on Wednesday, sixth-seeded Thomas Muster of Australia was beaten by Greg Rusedski of Canada, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, and Mats Wilander of Sweden used a steady baseline game to defeat fourth-seeded Todd Martin of the United States.


Also, 10th-seed Jason Stoltenberg of Australia had to quit while trailing Kent Kinnear of the United States, 6-3, 1-0.


The tournament's eighth (Cedric Piolene of France), 11th (Jaime Yzaga of Peru), 13th (Alexander Volkhov of Russia) and 15th (Javier Sanchez) seeds previously were eliminated.


The only successful seeds were No. 3 Stefan Edberg, who defeated Brett Steven of New Zealand 6-3, 3-6, 6-2; and Richard Krajicek, the 14th seed, who won easily over David Wheaton of the United States, 6-3, 6-4.


Woodforde solved Ivanisevic's blazing serves and ousted the Croatian player. Woodforde, unseeded in singles, is part of the top-seeded doubles team, along with fellow Australian Todd Woodbridge. They already have won five tournaments this year.


"I'm playing a bit more maturely, and I feel I belong in the Top 25," said Woodforde, ranked 39th in singles.


Ivanisevic said he made it easy for Woodforde. "I played bad, but he was good. I think too much," said Ivanisevic, who admitted he was hesitant at times about whether to come to the net or stay back on the hard-surface court.


Wilander's 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Martin was his first over a Top 10 player since the 1991 Australian Open.


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In Montreal, Mary Pierce, returning to her native city for the first time since she was five months old, beat Rachel McQuillan of Australia 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the Matinee International on Wednesday.


"This is the first time I've been back since I left as a child," said the fourth-seeded Pierce, who divides her time between the United States and France. "I'm really happy to be back in the city of my birth."


In night matches, top-seeded Steffi Graf beat No. 14 Naoko Sawamatsu of Japan 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 in Wednesday's lone third-round match and No. 7 Amanda Coetzer of South Africa defeated Barbara Rittner of Germany 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.


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In New Haven, Connecticut, Boris Becker got the break he needed just in time to beat Roger Smith 6-3, 6-4 before the rain began to fall in the Volvo International on Wednesday.


Becker, the third seed, broke Smith three times, the last coming in the ninth game of the second set for a 5-4 advantage. Becker was one of seven players to advance before play was stopped about 3:15 P.M. local time.


Play resumed about five hours later between top seed Michael Stich and Marcelo Rios. But the second-round match, which began about an hour after its scheduled start time, was suspended with Stich leading 6-3, 2-2.


Six players besides Becker advanced earlier in the day. Petr Korda, seeded fifth, defeated Chuck Adams, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5; No. 10 Ivan Lendl beat Jonas Bjorkman 6-4, 7-6 (7-3); No. 11 MaliVai Washington overcame Mark Phillippoussis 7-5, 6-2, and No. 16 Stefano Pescosolido topped Patrick McEnroe 0-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (9-7). (AP, Reuters)

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