Tennis Roundup : Lendl Wins His First Tournament of the Year

Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia won his first title of the year Sunday by defeating countryman Miloslav Mecir, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3, in the final of the German Open at Hamburg, West Germany .

Lendl, the world’s No. 1 player, overwhelmed a lackluster Mecir in 2 hours 18 minutes after struggling in both the quarterfinals and semifinals.

“It feels nice to win, especially after the trouble I had winning the last two matches here,” Lendl said. “Milos (Mecir) played, in my opinion, just horrible. He didn’t do anything right and he never came out of it.”

Lendl won the first four games before Mecir held his serve for the first time. Lendl then swept through the next five games.

Mecir, ranked No. 5 in the world, made far too many errors but, after saving a break point at 0-3 in the second set, came back to draw even, 3-3.

Lendl then won seven consecutive games to end any thoughts Mecir had of staging a comeback.

“Maybe he didn’t sleep well, maybe he didn’t feel well, I don’t know. I’d like to think it was my game that stopped him, but if I said that I would be lying,” said Lendl, who donated $10,000 of his $51,000 winner’s check to a cancer research fund.

Said Mecir: “It wasn’t one of my best days. I made too many easy mistakes, and he also played very well. I am not unhappy about the loss because I didn’t have too many chances the way I played. If I had lost by a close margin, I would be sadder about the loss.”

It was only the second defeat in six tournament finals for Mecir this year. He earned $25,500.

Top-seeded Chris Evert defeated Kate Gompert, 6-3, 6-2, at Largo, Fla., to win the $150,000 Eckerd Open, the 151st tournament victory of her career.

Evert needed 1 hour 50 minutes to avenge a February loss to Gompert in the Virginia Slims of Florida tournament. And it was the second consecutive tournament championship for Evert. Last week, she defeated Martina Navratilova at the Virginia Slims of Houston.

Evert said her confidence received a boost when she beat Navratilova.

“I’m riding on the crest of a wave this week,” she said.

“I’m happy with the match and the whole week. My concentration is good, and I’m happy with my overall game.”

Gompert, 24, of Rancho Mirage, was competing in her first championship match on the women’s tour. She is ranked 25th in the world.

“Chris is playing really well right now,” Gompert said. “She was hitting deep. Instead of thinking about winning the match, I was just thinking about winning a game.”

Evert, who has won three tournaments this season, took home $30,500, while Gompert earned $13,800.