Tennis Roundup : Connors Advances to the Quarterfinals

Second-seeded Jimmy Connors moved into the quarterfinals of the $500,000 Italian Indoor Championships at Milan Thursday with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Eric Jelen of West Germany.

Connors, 35, won the first four games and then swept the final six to put away the world’s 45th-ranked player in just over an hour.

Fourth-seeded Pat Cash of Australia held off Sergio Casal of Spain, 6-3, 7-6, and fifth-seeded Yannick Noah of France defeated Alex Antonitsch of Austria, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Third-seeded Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia had an easy time with Jonas Svensson of Sweden, winning 6-4, 6-0, and seventh-seeded Henri Leconte of France defeated Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union, 7-6, 6-4.

At Oakland, Hu Na, who defected from China five years ago to play professional tennis in America, upset eighth-seeded Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 6-2, 6-2, to move into the quarterfinals of a $250,000 Virginia Slims tournament.

In other second-round matches, top-seeded Martina Navratilova ousted Wendy Turnbull of Australia, 6-2, 6-0, and third-seeded Hana Mandlikova beat Elna Reinach of South Africa, 6-7, 6-1, 6-1.

At Memphis, Tenn., Jim Grabb stunned top-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden, 6-4, 6-4, in the third round of the $415,000 U.S. Indoor championships.

It took Grabb, ranked No. 62 in the world, only 91 minutes to eliminate the defending champion

Earlier, third-seeded David Pate fought back to eliminate Jim Pugh, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. A bout with the flu forced fourth-seeded Eliot Teltscher to withdraw.