European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 4, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 22 the stars and stripes monday september 4, 1978 big four survive in . Open Tennis Borg Connors Vilas Gerulaitis pressed to win by Steve Welstein new York up the big four took it on the Chin saturday at the . Open but they All survived. Top seed Bjorn Borg had the least Trou ble. The Wimbledon Champion was matched shot for shot for awhile by a Swiss teen Ager in the evening but put Down the threat to win 6-2,6-4. Jimmy Connors Guillermo Vilas and Vitas Gerulaitis were run dizzy and All Felt Happy to escape embarrassingly Early elimination. Connors spent his 26th birthday fighting off huge Pat Dupre who finished the match with an injured right ankle. Connors was set Back by Dupre s powerful serve and deep ground strokes but finally won 7 5,4-6,6-3. Borg s difficulties against Heinz Gunthardt were seen by a night crowd of 8,696. The largest afternoon crowd in open history 16,762, and a National television Audi ence watched Connors struggle for 2 hours 15 minutes against the 48th-ranked play Erin the grand prix standings. The women s seeds Don t seem to be having the same problems As the men. To seeded Martina Navratilova had it very easy saturday night with a 6-1, 6-2 Victory Over Maria pin Terova. Connors lived dangerously charging the net whenever possible and the Gamble paid off in key winning volleys. Connors broke the Belgium born Dupre who is two weeks shy of his 24th birthday in the eighth game of the third set when Dupre committed his first double fault. Connors then held serv ice to win. Vilas needed two hours to dispose of former Champion Stan Smith 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in another thriller while Gerulaitis came within two Points of defeat in his match against rhodesian Andrew Pattison. Geru Laitis held on to Post a shaky 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 Victory and join Connors and Vilas in the fourth round. Connors spoke briefly on television after the match then raced from the stadium to his waiting limousine. Connors has virtually ignored newsmen All week and is the Only seeded player to refuse interviews after a match. Connors May Lack Courtesy but his performance in the face of defeat was Superb. Connors jumped on Dupre s second serve and attacked the net to go ahead 30-0 in the Pivotal eighth game of the third set. Dupre then committed his Only double fault and was broken at love when he hit a forehand Long. Connors gambling resulted in 28 win ners compared to 18 for Dupre but the second seeded Lethander also had 63 in forced errors compared to 59 by Dupre. Connors had no aces and Only one service Winner. I feel very Good even losing Dupre six under 65 boosts Kite Lead to 3 on curl after 36 holes in . Open Symik Hendricks Endicott . A Tom Kite shot a six under Par 65 Over the in Joie Golf club course saturday that put him three strokes ahead of his nearest challenger Rod curl going into sunday s third round of the $225,000 . Open. I m playing awfully Well but this tournament is far from a runaway. With two rounds to go there is a lot of ground said Kite after his saturday performance left him 11 under Par for the first 36 holes of the tournament. I m not planning on losing. It s definitely going to be charging All the Way said Kite a 28-year-old former Mcaa Champion from Texas. Kite s honesty Cost him a shot at the championship of last week s Hall of Fame classic. He assessed a one stroke penalty on himself for an infraction no one else saw. He lost the tournament by that on stroke. Tom Purtzer had shared the first round Lead with Kite. But Purtzer shot a two Over Par 73 saturday to fall eight strokes behind the Leader. Curl was threatening to make it a two Man tournament after he overcame a poor Start of two bogies with two eagles and finished the Day with a seven under 64. If i make my putts tomorrow i d like to make this a two Man race Between me and Kite curl said. Three strokes is nothing in two curl managed to finish the second round seven under in spite of being two Over after the first five holes. He said he was bothered by the Willow Trees along the 6,915-Yard, Par-71 course. I sure hate those Willow Trees. You might just As Well put a billboard there. You can t go Over under or around them the californian said. Curl had entered the second round Trail ing Kite by four strokes. Danny Edwards of Edmond okla., was four strokes behind Kite in the Competition for the $45,000 Winner s share. Artie my Nickle and Rex Caldwell were five strokes Back going into sunday s third round. The Field of 150 golfers was Cut in half for the third round. Miller Barber and Mike Sullivan were alone six strokes Back. Bob Byman a Rookie on the american tour after winning four overseas tournaments was seven strokes behind. Along with Byman were Bobby Walzel Don Iverson and last year s . Open Champion Gil Morgan. Pea Champion John Mahaffey and Lee Trevino were part of a pack of golfers along with Purtzer at eight strokes off the Pace. Heavy Rains flooded several fairways Here postponing thursday s scheduled first round. Friday and saturday s rounds were played under sunny skies but there was a threat of rain for sunday and monday. . Open Champion Andy North was 10 strokes behind Kite. The leaders Tom Kite 66-65131 Rod curl 70-64134 Danny Edwards 68-67135 Artie Mcnickle 68-68136 Rex Caldwell 68-68136 Miller Barber 71-66137 Mike Sullivan 71-66137 Tommy Valentine 70-68138 Don Iverson 69-69138 Bob Byman 70-68138 Bobby Walzel 69-69138 Gil Morgan 69-69138 Lee Trevino 72-67139 Dave Parr 69-70139 John Mahaffey 68-71139 Peter Jacobsen 70-69139 Tom Purtzer 66-73139 Mark Hayes 70-69-139 Don Pooley 70-69139 Jim Dent 71-68139 Bobby Cole 72-67139 Lon Nielson 72-67139 Bill Sander 72-67139 Mike Morley 71-69140 Roger Maltbie 70-70140 de Sneed 69-71140 John Lister 70-70140 Bob Gilder 69-71140 Al Gelberger 69-71140 Ray Floyd 68-72140 Grier Jones Jim Nelford Dave Stockton Rick Beck Andy North Greg Powers Tony Cerda Bob Zender Carlton White Terry Diehl Jack Renner George Knudson George Cadle Bob Murphy Jack Spradlin Bobby Wadkins Jim Chancey Gary Koch Dan Sikes Leonard Thompson Charles Coody Chi Chi Rodriguez Bob Wynn Bunky Henry Bob Smith Don Bies Joe Kunes Dan Pohl Bobby Afton Bob Mann Bill Galloway j. C. Snead Doug Ford George Burns Tom Storey John Adams Keith Fergus Kip Byrne Don Baker Wayne Levi Gary Vanier Frank Conner Mike Hill Mike Reid Rob Ashby Chris Clark Peter Chapin Barry Jaeckel Wally Kuchar 72-69141 73-68141 73-68141 72-69141 71-70141 70-71141 72-70-142 73-69142 71-71142 70-72142 72-70-142 73-69142 ,70-72142 70-73143 77-66143 72-72143 72-71143 71-72143 71-72143 70-73143 70-73143 72-71143 72-71143 73-70143 73-70-143 71-73144 71-73144 71-73144 72-72144 72-72144 73-71-r144 73-71144 72-72144 71-73144 70-74144 73-71144 75-69144 76-68144 72-73145 74-71145 74-71145 72-73145 72-73145 70-75145 70-75145 72-73145 73-72145 74-71145 76-69-145 said while soaking his injured right ankle in a bucket of ice water in the Trainer s room. I be been doing Well against these top Guys and something s going to Smith the 1971 open Champion who has been plagued by injuries for several years broke Vilas in the sixth and eighth games of the second set and seemed primed to produce the biggest upset so far this week. Vilas who practice late Friday after noon following a rugged three setter against Young Bill Scanlon steadied him self in the third set and exchanged services through the first five games. Vilas then broke Smith at 30 in the sixth game to go ahead 4-2 and held his serve to win. Gerulaitis was expected to be one of the top performers on the hard fast surface used this year. He practice for weeks on his private backyard court with the same surface and seemed ready to finally Chal Lenge the big three Borg Connors and Vilas in a major championship. Against Pattison Gerulaitis trailed 4-5 in the third set with Pattison serving at so so. Pattison needed Only two Points to Clinch the match but Gerulaitis bore Down won the next two Points himself and broke through to tie the set 5-5. Gerulaitis held and broke Pattison again to reach the open s fourth round for the first time in his career. Two More men s seeds were knocked out. Bob Lutz Defeated 13th-seeded Jose Luis Clerc of Argentina 6-3, 6-2, to and Vance to the fourth round and Butch Walts stopped 14th-seeded Wojtek Fibak 6-4,7-5. In other afternoon matches involving men s seeds no. 3 Brian Gottfried beat Erik Van Dillen 6-1, 6-0, in a third round match no. 5 Eddie Dibbs outlasted Hun Garian Balazs Paroczy 7-6, 4-6, 6-3, to gain the third round no. 8 Raul Ramirez of Mexico upset in the first round last year moved into the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-3 Victory Over John Lloyd of Britain no. 12 Harold Solomon Defeated Gene Mayer 6-4, 6-2 to reach the third round. In the final night match 15th-seeded John Mcenroe Defeated Peter Fleming 6 4,6-1. Vilas who beat Smith in straight sets in the first round at Wimbledon this year said Smith was gambling a lot on the court saturday. He was risking a lot but he played the right Points Vilas said. That s the kind of chances you take if you want to win. You have to do something Smith thought Vilas would have to come to the net More to win his second straight title but Vilas disagreed. Vilas noted that Borg rarely attacked the net in winning three straight titles on the fast grass courts of Wimbledon. Giants nip bugs in season opener Fla. Up Joe Pisarcik came off the Bench saturday night to pass for one touchdown and set up a Field goal in leading the new York giants to a season opening 19-13 Victory Over Tampa Bay As both clubs lost their starting quarterbacks. Pisarcik taking Over in the second period after starting quarterback Jerry Goldsteyn went out with a bruised Back hit Johnny Perkins with a 67-Yard touchdown pass to put the giants ahead to stay in the third Quarter after the clubs had battled Totalo Ohalf Tometie. Doug Williams the bucs Rookie quarterback from Grambling was sidelined in the first Quarter when he suffered a badly bruised right shoulder. Team officials said a rays of his shoulder were negative but he watched the second half in Street clothes with a huge pad on the injured shoulder. After Neil o Donoghue kicked a 26-Yard Field goal in the final period to Cut the giants Lead to three Points Pisarcik passed the giants into Range for Joe Dane to s 23-Yard Field goal with just Over six minutes to go. It was Danelo s second Field goal of the game. His first a 42-yarder in new York Tampa Bay first Downs rushes Yards passing Yards return Yards passes punts fumbles lost penalties Yards 12 35-75 162 138 12-25-1 9-43 0-0 7-44 16 39-165 86 165 10-28-3 7-43 4-1 8-55 individual leaders Rushing new York Csonka 6-28, Taylor 11-18, Spencer 9-16. Tampa Bay Bell 13-54, Dubose 12-52, Davis 5-31. Passing new York goldsteyn3-10-0, 27 Yards Pisarcik 9-15-1,156. Tampa Bay Williams 1-5-1,9, Huff 9-22-2,84 receiving new York Perkins 4-110, Robinson 2-28, Taylor 2-20, Doornink 2-14. Tampa Bay Giles 5-57, Owens 2-22, Carter 2-5. Nogue had Given Tampa its Only Lead with a 34-Yard Field goal. Jimmy Dubose scored Tampa s Only touchdown when he burst through fro two Yards out in the second period. Williams the bucs first round draft pick became the first Black Rookie quarterback to Start an opening nil game. He completed Only one of five passes and had one interception in his Brief appearance. The giants had jumped off to a Quick Start when Terry Jackson picked off a Wil Liams pass on the third play of the game and raced 32 Yards to score. Pisarcik finished the game with nine completions in 15 attempts for 156 Yards and had one interception. New York .7 3 6 319 3-13 the second period came after linebacker Harry Carson picked off a Gary Huff pass at the Tampa 47 and carried it to the 33. That tied the game at 10-10 after 0 do Tampa Bay 730 by Jackson 32 pass interception Danelo kick to Dubose 2 run or Donoghue kick to Fig o Donoghue 34 by Fig Danelo 42 nyperkins67 Pas from Pisarcik kick failed to Fig o Donoghue 26 by Fig Danelo 23 a-47,456
