Connors Bounces Back as Edberg Is Bounced

L.A. Times Archives

Sept. 5, 1989 12 AM PT

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Jimmy Connors, whose best days in the U.S. Open tennis championships have long since passed, shocked third-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden Monday with a straight-set victory in the fourth round.

Connors, at 37 the oldest player in the tournament, came back two days after suffering sever leg cramps to win, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1. Connors, seeded 13th and a five-time Open champion, lost the first two games of the match, then routed Edberg.

“I played the kind of match everybody dreams of playing,” he said.

Top-seeded Ivan Lendl, pushed to the limit by the attacking style of Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union, rallied for a 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory.

Connors needed medical treatment for more than two hours Saturday after beating Andres Gomez. But he was vintage Jimbo against Edberg, even shrugging off three warnings from the umpire for using abusive language.

The second game of the second set was awarded to Edberg and Connors then sat down in his courtside chair rather then resume play.

After talking with referee Gayle Bradshaw, Connors was persuaded to continue.

And he continued the romp, needing only 102 minutes to move into the quarterfinals for the 16th time.

“For me, it’s great to come out and play like that,” Connors said. “It’s excellent for my feeling to continue to go out and play like this.

“I love playing here. I’ll always remember this place. I’ve played some of my best tennis here.”

So, of course, has Lendl. But not against Chesnokov.

“If I look at it now, there are a lot of moments I could have gone down,” Lendl said. “I’ll take it anyway it comes. If I bury people, fine. If I win like today, that’s fine too.’

Lendl, a three-time winner here and a finalist every year since 1982, slugged it out on the grandstand court with Chesnokov for 3 hours 45 minutes. They matched powerful forehands and madly spinning backhands before Lendl’s break in the seventh game of the final set was decisive.

“He wasn’t missing and I decided if I was going to go down, I was going down swinging,” Lendl said.

Lendl made 73 unforced errors to 42 for Chesnokov. In the end, Lendl had won only four more points than Chesnokov.

“He was hitting back everything,” said Lendl, who had swept his first three matches. “I was hitting crisply but always seemed to be missing the last shot. I had to fight it out in the end.”

Chesnokov had Lendl off-balance for most of the match, often pinning Lendl well behind the baseline.

“I felt I had the upper hand in the whole last set,” he said. “He’s so quick and he served well at important times. I was always fighting on his serve.”

Chesnokov, 23, would not call it the best match of his life. He did admit it was the most disappointing.

He was not sure if he should have won, Chesnokov said.

“My opinion is I had a little bit more chance to win this match than him. I had a chance to beat Ivan today, a very good chance.”

While Lendl and Chesnokov were battling at the 6,000-seat grandstand, the 20,000-seat stadium was three-fourths empty for the first set of Edberg-Connors.

“It was cold but not windy,” Lendl said. “I didn’t like it a bit. In the end, I was so aggressive, he couldn’t keep up.”

Earlier, Tim Mayotte, finally feeling at home at the Open, moved into the quarterfinals for the first time, beating French Open champion Michael Chang.

In a repeat of their fourth-round match at Wimbledon, Mayotte used his strong serve-and-volley tactics to overwhelm Chang. No. 9 Mayotte fell behind 5-2 in the first set against Chang, seeded 7th. But Mayotte won 11 of the next 12 games.

After Chang broke in Mayotte’s first two service games of the third set, Mayotte came right back in the fourth set, breaking in the opening game. He also broke Chang in the final game for a 7-5, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 victory.

“I’ve played maybe 10 times here and never felt I played to my potential,” Mayotte said. “In the early stages of my career, I felt I was not that good a hardcourt player. The last couple of years, it’s been some misfortune and not being prepared for the adversity here.

“I’ve made an extra special effort to try to prepare for this tournament. I feel really pumped up. This is as well as I’ve played at the Open.”

Mayotte’s best previous showing here was making the fourth round in 1984 and ’85. His victory over Chang was Mayotte’s first victory on the stadium court at Flushing Meadow.

“I’ve lost early so many times,” he said. “I’m ready, I’m coming and coming, I’m moving well at the net and volleying as well as I ever have.”

Chang, the youngest man to win a Grand Slam event when he won the French Open, called his performance here “satisfactory.”

“The only time you can say something is a failure is if you don’t try,” Chang said. “But if you do try, then you are not a failure.

“It’s been a good year. The French and Wimbledon, I did really well. The U.S. Open is OK, it could have been better. The last four tournaments I played, I’ve just gotten to OK levels.”

No. 1 Steffi Graf, who is on another level from the other women on the tour, had her first test at the Open. The defending champion and beat Rosalyn Fairbank, 6-4, 6-0, but was down 2-4 in the first set.

Then, Fairbank of South Africa, felt pain in her groin and it hampered her the rest of the way.

“I just had a bad start, I guess,” Graf said. “I didn’t play well at the beginning, she didn’t make mistakes, either. I just needed some time to get into it.

“Once I got to 4-3 and she was serving, I just took a little bit more of a risk, and just got into the ball a little better.”

Graf knew she would get started--eventually.

“I can’t continue to play like that, I think that is impossible,” said Graf, winner of six of the last seven Grand Slam events. “At least I hope.”

Graf next plays No. 8 Helena Sukova, who ousted Larisa Savchenko of the Soviet Union, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. No. 3 Gabriela Sabatini beat No. 15 Conchita Martinez, 6-1, 6-1.

French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain also advanced, beating Barbra Paulus, 6-2, 6-2.