McEnroe, Connors under threat

Press, 5 September 1980, Page 24

McEnroe, Connors under threat

NZPA-Reuter New York Two of the most promising young players in tennis — Ivan Lendl, aged 20, of Czechoslovakia,' and Eliot Teltscher,’ aged 21, of the United States — will try today to‘head off a rematch between the second seed, John McEnroe, and the third seed, Jimmy Connors, in the semi-finals of the United States Open tennis championships. - Lendl, the tenth seed and winner of two .grand prix tournaments this year, meets the defending champion, McEnroe, while the unseeded Teltscher, who has beaten McEnroe, Lendl antT Eddie Dibbs during the last year, faces Connors, in the day’s other men’s quarter-final pairings at the United States National Tennis Centre. In other quarter-final

matches on the tenth day of the 13-day open, Andrea Jaeger, aged 15, who is seeded 14th,. and 18-year-old Hana Mandlikova of Czechoslovakia/ ; seeded ninth, upset-second seeded Martina Navratilova and unseeded Barbara Hallqiiist in the fourth round. Yesterday, the top seed, Bjorn Borg, of Sweden, and the unseeded Johan Kriek, of South Africa, advanced to the- semi-finals, as did the top-seeded, Tracy Austin, and (the third seed, Chris Evert Lloyd, on the women’s side. < ■ . Borg, bidding for his first open title and the third leg on the grand slam of tennis, waged a magnificent uphill struggle. to -overcome the eleventh seed, Roscoe Tanner, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. Kriek, .the world’s 29th-

ranked player, upset Wojtek Fibak, of Poland, 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6, in a three hour and 55-minute struggle before a crowd of 16,000. Miss Austin, who has 1 not lost a set in five matches, easily defeated Pam Shriver, the No. 13 seed, 6-2, 6-3. It was Austin’s eleventh consecutive win over Shriver and earned her a place in ■the semi-finals against Mrs Lloyd, whose five-year open reign she .ended in last year’s final. ’ . Mrs Lloyd, who lost only nine games in her first four matches, was extended for the first time in the tournament as she saved a set point in the opening set to beat Mima Jausovec, of Yugoslavia; 7-6, 6-2. ■ . < Borg,' having trouble: with his service and volley, fell behind fwo sets to one

against the powerful-serving Tanner;- who; upset the 24-year-61d;. Swede .. last year’s’ .'quarter-finals?..-'With Tanner serving’ att4-3 :in ithe fourth set,’ it appeared that he was on ■ the verge of duplicating last year’s upset? But Borg, saving his. best tennis Vfor last, broke Tanner’s serve to make it 4-4, and then broke ' through again’ at love' in the twelfth game'to lever the match. After *both • players had fought off’ break paints in the first' game of ..the fifth set • before a gallery ■ of 15.000; on another hot, sunny day, they engaged in a titanic service battle. From the third through to the seventh game, only one ‘point wa9 -yielded on service : — by ?Tanner • in the : fourth game. ■■ Thea- ia the eighth game l

Tanner saved three break points to reach advantagepoint on serve?'Biit then he suffered his- fourth-- double fault, after .-which Borg belted back a service return for an. outright winner and broke through on a forehand smash. "?’ '-'. Serving for the match at 5-3, Borg won three straight points to extend his ; streak to 19 points on service. . Two Borg errors enabled Tanner to r pull to 40-30, ,but . then Borg drilled across a forehand smash to close the three-hour match. ? 1 ’ “It was a great match,” said Borg later, while declining to compare it with his come-from-behind five-set victory oyer Tanner in last year’s Wimbledon final. always do well on the big points,? and I did it today,” Borg-said, "