Connors Battles Back to Defeat Panatta in a Three-Hour Match

BOCA RATON, Fla. —  Refusing to give up, 33-year-old Jimmy Connors rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the third set Thursday to beat Italy’s Claudio Panatta, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, and joined top-seeded Ivan Lendl and second-seeded Mats Wilander in the third round of the $1.8-million Lipton International Players Championship tennis tournament.

The third-seeded Connors turned the three-hour match around by breaking Panatta’s serve in the eighth game of the third set. He won the decisive tiebreaker, 7-3.

In the first set, Connors rallied from a 5-1 deficit to go ahead, 6-5. But Panatta recovered to force a tiebreaker, which he eventually won, 7-4.

Lendl, meanwhile, defeated South Africa’s Christo Van Rensburg, 6-4, 6-1, and Wilander beat Australia’s Broderick Dyke, 6-4, 6-2. In the day’s biggest upset, South Africa’s Eddie Edwards ousted ninth-seeded Kevin Curren, 6-4, 6-2.

Chris Evert Lloyd needed 68 minutes to beat Marie-Christine Calleja of France, 6-4, 6-0. Lloyd jumped to a 3-0 lead, then lost four straight games to fall behind, 3-4. She then won nine straight games to take the match.