Borg dispels all doubts

Press, 2 June 1981, Page 34

Borg dispels all doubts

NZPA-Reuter Paris Bjorn Borg, the invincible man of Roland Garros, has shaken off all doubts about his fitness and firmly staked his claim for a record sixth French Open tennis title. Doubtful for the tournament only a month ago because of shoulder strain and general fatigue, the 24-year-old Swede turned up on time claiming to be fully fit and ready to win. He has since matched words with deeds, cutting a swathe through the table with a Series of flawless straight-set victories which leave the other seeds wondering only how . many games they can hope to take off him. Borg is not quite invincible in the French Open, having lost in 1973, when he was only 17, and in 1976 — bqth to the Italian . clay court master, Adriano Panatta. Yesterday he reached the quarter-finals with a performance of total control, beatiing an American, Terry Moor, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1. His next opponent, Hungary’s. Balazs Taroczy said: “The way Borg’s playing means this tournament has’ become a matter of just how many games you can getagainst him.” Last time the two met, .in the fourth round in Paris a ' year ago, Taroczy won. four games. Yesterday’s win over Moor took 73 minutes. The Swede ,

was in no mood to dally. He took two sets to love and was 5-0 up in the third when Moor, suddenly finding luck coming his way, won a game and sent the crowd into hysterical cheering. Moor said later that by that stage one game was all he wanted: “That was my goal after the first two sets.” Borg talked about the match, as seriously as if he had just beaten John McEnroe in the Wimbledon final: “I certainly didn’t give him that game,” he said. “The important thing in any match is to win. If you can win 6-0, 6-0, 8-0, that’s fine, but it’s no good feeling sorry for the other guy. If you let him win one, he might go on and win the match.” Borg; was not the only champion in a hurry. Chris Evert-Lloyd, four times the women’s winner in Paris, quickly moved into top gear against Britain’s Virginia Wade, taking 11 games in a row, to win, 6-3, 6-0 in just over an hour. But Mrs Evert-Lloyd, now 26, was upstaged by a player .12 years her junior, Kathy Rinaldi, of Florida, who dropped a set but still beat her 21-year-old compatriot, Anne Smith, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, to reach the last eight. Miss Rinaldi’s next opponent will be’the Czechoslovak fourth seed, Hana Mandlii ova, who yesterday beat Bettina Bunge, of West Germany, 6-3, 6-1.