Becker, The Defending Champion, Upset Victim At Australian Open First Grand Slam Tennis Event Begins In Hot, Sunny Weather

Boris Becker’s defense of his Australian Open title ended after 3-1/2 hours of brutal heat and utter frustration today against Spain’s Carlos Moya - the first man to knock out the defending champion in the opening round of a Grand Slam event in 20 years.

Becker launched his surge to the Australian title a year ago with a pair of five-setters. This time, he couldn’t get past one.

Moya, who beat Becker indoors in Paris last fall, camped out on the baseline again, drilled passing shots and upset the sixth-seeded German 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Becker, coming off a $4.3 million year in which he dominated virtually everyone when he was healthy, knew he would have trouble against Moya, and he was right.

Though Becker had 22 aces to Moya’s five, and smacked 30 winning volleys to Moya’s one, the 25th-ranked Moya proved far steadier and made many fewer errors. While Becker had 17 double faults, Moya had only six. Becker’s 87 unforced errors were 36 more than Moya.

Not since Roscoe Tanner lost in the first round to Chris Lewis at the Australian in December 1977, after winning the title in January of the same year, has a defending men’s champion here gone down in his opening match. Nor had any other defending men’s champion at any major tournament in the open era since 1968 lost in the first round.

Moya’s upset wasn’t as big a shock as it might have appeared. The 20-year-old was coming off a solid performance in the tuneup in the Sydney International, where he reached the final before losing to Britain’s Tim Henman.

In earlier matches, Steffi Graf nursed a fallen opponent and Michael Chang rescued a ball girl who fainted in the heat as the injury-riddled Australian Open got off to a stumbling start.

Graf led 5-1 in the first set when Janette Husarova of Slovakia twisted her left knee changing direction while rushing the net.

Graf, who’s had plenty of injuries of her own, put a towel under Husarova, carried out ice in another towel and unrolled an elastic bandage before a trainer and doctor arrived to finish the job of wrapping the knee in ice.

The top-seeded Graf, seeking her fifth Australian Open title, had such a short workout in the match that she went directly from center court to a practice court for an hour of hitting.

Chang, the men’s No. 2 seed, had no problem beating Kris Goossens of Belgium 6-0, 6-3, 6-1. The only unexpected part of the match was the brief collapse of a ball girl, whom Chang helped out with a water-soaked towel he kept handy.

Chang next plays Richey Reneberg, who got off court as quickly as Graf when his opponent, Oscar Burrieza of Spain, twisted an ankle at 2-2 in the first set.

In uneventful matches, No. 5 Thomas Muster beat Geoff Grant 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; No. 7 Thomas Enqvist raced past Nicolas Pereira 6-1, 6-2, 6-4; No. 12 Magnus Gustaffson edged Grant Doyle 6-7 (7-2), 6-3, 7-5, 6-1, and No. 16 Michael Stich dispatched Patrik Fredriksson 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

In other women’s matches, No. 3 Conchita Martinez beat Miriam Oremans 6-0, 6-2; No. 10 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy downed Sung-Hee Park 6-2, 2-6, 6-2; No. 12 Amanda Coetzer beat 15-year-old Anna Kournikova 6-2, 6-2, and No. 16 Sabine Appelmans defeated Helena Sukova 6-2, 6-2.

The year’s first Grand Slam event lost its biggest name, or at least the one with the most letters in it and the most appeal to hometown fans, when Mark Philippoussis withdrew with an arm injury.

A year ago Philippoussis put on a dazzling show of power tennis to knock out top-seed Pete Sampras in the third round. On Sunday, Philippoussis pulled out of what looked like the best opening-round match, a center court duel against Britain’s rising star, Tim Henman, winner of the tuneup tournament in Sydney.

The injured-and-out camp is getting pretty full: defending women’s champion Monica Seles, French Open champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek, Todd Martin, Cedric Pioline, Jason Stoltenberg.

The don’t-feel-like-playing camp already claimed 1995 champion Andre Agassi and Jana Novotna.