LIVINGSTON, N.J. -- Christian Saceanu, last year's top West German junior player, upset fourth seed Robert Seguso to highlight first-round action Monday in the $125,000 Volvo Tennis-New Jersey Championships.
Saceanu, 19, handled by Gunther Bosch, the former coach of Boris Becker, utilized powerful serves and groundstrokes to beat an erratic Seguso 6-2, 6-3 in a night match.
'People expect a lot from me and I hope I am able to play well,' Saceanu, who showed promised in his Wimbledon debut two weeks ago when he lost in a fourth set tiebreaker to Ivan Lendl in a first-round match.
Saceanu scored two service breaks in the first set and one in the second. Seguso, ranked 58th to 167th for Saceanu, has lost in the opening round of five straight tournaments.
In day matches, eighth seed Christo Steyn of South Africa and Americans Glenn Layendecker and Greg Holmes scored victories and moved into the second round.
Steyn earned a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Chris Pridham of Canada. He had service breaks in the last game of each set.
Layendecker, who had lost in the first-round 10 straight times this year, played a solid net game and surprised seventh seed Eric Winogradsky of France, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in a 2 hour, 12 minute match.
Holmes, the 1983 NCAA singles champion, beat Gary Donnelly 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).
