Lendl wins tennis final by default

Press, 20 April 1982, Page 36

Lendl wins tennis final by default

NZPA-Reuter Houston, Texas Jose Luis Clerc, of Argentina, trailing two sets to one, defaulted to Ivan Lendl, of Czechoslovakia, in a final of a World Championship Tennis tournament in Houston yesterday by refusing to switch courts after rain interrupted the match. At the request of Lendl, who said the light was too bad for him to play properly, tournament officials decided to move the match from the stadium court which was not lighted to a lighted back court.

But Clerc refused, saying he had been told by both the umpire and the referee that the match would continue on the stadium court for another half-hour.

Lendl, tbe top seed, lost the first set, 3-6, but came back to win the second, 7-6, after a 66-minute delay caused by rain. He was ahead 4-0 in the third set when the persistent drizzle again caused play to be suspended. He. took the set, 6-0, after a 23-minute break, but Clerc was ahead with a service break in the fourth set when officials tried to switch the match to another court after the fifth game. Lendl, who received $lOO,OBO for the victory, has now won 74 of his last 76 matches, reaching the finals of 15 consecutive tournaments; Lendl said he was disappointed that the match had. not been finished.