Tennis Roundup : Lendl Rallies to Win, Faces Mecir in Final

Ivan Lendl came within two points of losing to Sweden’s Kent Carlsson in the German Open tennis tournament Saturday at Hamburg, West Germany, but rallied to earn a place in today’s final against fellow Czech Miloslav Mecir.

Carlsson was serving for the match at 6-3, 5-4 and 30-15, but Lendl won the next three points to make it 5-5 in the second set.

The top-seeded Lendl then overpowered the third-seeded Swede and won the next eight games to wrap up the semifinal match, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Carlsson’s looping backhand returns and heavy topspins clearly troubled Lendl, the world’s No. 1 player.

In the other semifinal, second-seeded Mecir ousted Eduardo Bengoechea of Argentina, 7-6, 6-1. Mecir won the first-set tiebreaker, 7-4.

Mecir upset Lendl in the final of the Lipton International Players Championships at Key Biscayne, Fla., in early March.

Mecir will be competing in his sixth final and aiming for his fifth title of the year. His only loss came against Boris Becker in the Italian indoor final at Milan last month.

The winner of today’s final will earn $51,000, with half that sum going to the runner-up.

Top-seeded Chris Evert swept past Beverly Bowes, a University of Texas senior from Lubbock, Tex., 6-0, 6-0, to reach the final of the $150,000 Eckerd Open at Largo, Fla.

“I didn’t feel like I was nervous,” Bowes said. “But I guess I was. It’s so frustrating. She hit everything so deep.”

The easy victory moved Evert into the championship match against fourth-seed Kate Gompert, who beat second-seeded Kathy Rinaldi, 6-0, 6-1.

Top-seeded Ramesh Krishnan of India rallied to beat No. 3 Andrew Castle of Britain, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, and will meet American Jay Lapidus in the final of the Dunlop Masters at Nagoya, Japan.

Lapidus, seeded fifth, beat unseeded countryman Eric Korita, 4-6, 7-6, 6-1.