McEnroe show of antics

Press, 6 September 1980, Page 60

McEnroe show of antics

NZPA New York Andrea Jaeger became the youngest semi-finalist in United States Open history and a demonstrative John McEnroe survived a four-set scare from Ivan Lendl before a record crowd of 18,000 at the National Tennis ■! Centre, New York, yesterday, McEnroe lost the first set to Lendl,: a 20-year-old Czech, who is seeded tenth, but rallied to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5, after giving the largest crowd in open history a display of ; bis antics — grabbing his, hair, pounding, his' racket, complaining to match offh cials, slamming the net cord, talking to himself and exchanging barbs with fans in courtside seats..

Lendl’s hard, passing shots scored effectively? against McEnroe’s serve and volley game in the opening set, but after that > they began missing the mark. ' ■.

i McEnroe, the defending champion and No. 2seed, played several loose games, but not enough to. throw away: the match. With the score tied at 3-3 in the second set, McEnroe won 12 of the next 15 games to lead, 3-1, in the,fourth. Lendl came back to win three games in a row : and was ahead, 5-4, before McEnroe won the final three games of the match, including a decisive service break in the eleventh game. McEnroe will face the three-time open winner, Jimmy Connors, in a semi-final match todays