Tennis Roundup : McEnroe Wins and Takes Swipe at Women’s Game

John McEnroe, the world’s top men’s tennis professional, blasted his way into the quarterfinals of a tournament in Chicago Thursday night, and then he blasted women’s tennis.

“I’m sick and tired of having it suggested that I play Martina Navratilova,” McEnroe said after routing Mike Leach, 6-1, 6-2, in exactly one hour during a second-round match of the $315,000 Volvo tournament.

McEnroe criticized the women’s game as “being of inferior quality.”

“If people want to watch (women’s tennis), that’s not up to me to criticize them,” he said.

“Everywhere I go, it is suggested to me that I should play Martina. But even if I was having a lousy day, I would beat her one, one and one (6-1, 6-1 and 6-1).”

The top-seeded McEnroe was joined in the quarterfinals Thursday night by second-seeded Jimmy Connors, who struggled to a 6-4, 7-6 victory over David Pate.

Connors took command early. He broke Pate’s serve in the fifth game and held on to win the first set, 6-4. In the second set, Connors broke through again in the fifth game, but Pate broke right back. He had Connors down, 15-40, set point, in the 11th game before Connors rallied to send the set into a tiebreaker, which he won, 7-1.

Two other seeded players, Yannick Noah of France and Johan Kriek, were upset in their second-round matches.

Terry Moor, a 32-year-old southpaw, defeated the fourth-seeded Noah, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, and former University of Tennessee star Paul Annacone eliminated the sixth-seeded Kriek, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Moor, ranked 46th in the world, had to overcome Noah’s booming serve, which accounted for 17 aces.

Annacone, ranked 60th in the world and last year’s collegiate player of the year, also had to come from behind after losing the first set. After falling behind, 5-3, in the second set, Annacone rushed the net and reeled off four straight games to win the set, 7-5. He fell behind again in the final set, 4-2, before taking advantage of Kriek’s inability to get in his first serve.

Top-seeded Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia and second-seeded Mats Wilander of Sweden easily moved into the quarterfinals of the $325,000 Jacomo Monte Carlo Open.

Lendl defeated Jan Gunnarsson of Sweden, 6-3, 7-5, and Wilander eliminated Victor Pecci of Paraguay, 6-3, 6-3.