Tennis Roundup : Wilander Worn Down by Pistolesi and Flu, 2-6, 7-6, 6-3

Mats Wilander fought off the flu bug but couldn’t overcome the after-effects.

The second-seeded Swede ran out of gas in the final set and was eliminated by unseeded Claudio Pistolesi of Italy, 2-6, 7-6, 6-3, Thursday in the third round of the $492,500 Monte Carlo Open.

“I guess I lost my patience,” Wilander said. “I got tired. I didn’t feel well and I didn’t feel strong today.

“On clay when you are tired you don’t have a chance.”

In other matches, top-seeded Ivan Lendl defeated Horst Skoff of Austria, 6-3, 7-5; No. 10 Joakim Nystrom of Sweden downed Tore Meinecke of West Germany, 6-2, 6-2; seventh-seeded Martin Jaite of Argentina beat Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union, 6-3, 6-2; fourth-seeded Yannick Noah of France turned back Jordi Arrese of Spain, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6; fifth-seeded Andres Gomez of Ecuador ousted Tarik Benhabiles of France, 6-4, 6-1; 11th-seeded Henri Leconte of France eliminated six-seeded Kent Carlsson of Sweden, 6-4, 6-3, and Thierry Tulasne of France routed Marian Vajda of Czechoslovakia, 6-3, 6-1.

Fourth-seeded Zina Garrison wobbled slightly in the second set but overcame Dinky Van Rensburg, 6-2, 6-4, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the $250,000 Virginia Slims of Houston tournament.

In other matches, sixth-seeded Isabel Cueto of West Germany defeated Amy Frazier, 6-4, 6-1, and No. 7 Patricia Tarabini of Argentina downed Carrie Cunningham, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3,

Today, Garrison will face Cueto; Tarabini will meet Elly Hakami, top-seeded Martina Navratilova will play No. 6 Arantxa Sanchez of Spain, and No. 2 Chris Evert will take on Gretchen Magers.