Battle for last two semi-final places

Press, 3 June 1982, Page 34

Battle for last two semi-final places

NZPAParis The women’s singles competitors, now down to the last four, take a rest today as four seeded men battle for the last two semi-final places, in the French Open tennis championships. Jimmy Connors, the top seed for the one title that has eluded him in world tennis, takes on Spain’s Jbse Higueras, and the French favourite, Yannick Noah, tackles Argentina’s Guillermo Vilas after the French No. l’s heroic battle against Wojtek Fibak, of Poland, two days ago, when he won a dour five-set struggle. These are the only singles matches scheduled for today. All four players will have a lot to live up to after yesterday’s dramatic victory by the Swedish newcomer, Mats Wilander, already being hailed by some as the new Bjorn Borg. Wilander, unseeded and virtually unknown until this season, despite being in the Swedish Davis Cup squad last year, has grabbed the title of giant killer- after summarily dismissing the pre-tournament' favourite, Ivan Lendl, and the old stager, Vitas Gerulaitis. His 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, victory in the quarter-finals over Gerulaitis yesterday gave the -packed centre court crowd a taste of determined, percentage tennis, the Swede dominating the long rallies and producing exquisite pass-. ing shots every time Gerulaitis attacked at the net.

Wilander kept Gerulaitis pinned to the baseline and finally wore the American down with a succession of ■ long rallies. Afterwards Gerulaitis conceded that he had deserved . to lose; “I think the court helped him — he played

well, was steady and played a good solid match,” he said. “He plays a similar game to Borg. He’s beaten a lot of good players already." Wilander’s on-court . manner , resembles his famous Compatriot, who has won this tournament six times. He rarely displays emotion, but - sometimes betrays his feelings with a flicker of a smile when, he wins a point. The Swedish teenager said afterwards he planned to play in the same style when he met Jose Luis Clerc, of Argentina, in the semifinals. “Clerc plays a lot like Lendl. I will play the same game, although I have never played him before,” said Wilander. Earlier Clerc, seeded fourth; earned his place in the semi-finals with a straightforward 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, win over Peter McNamara, of Australia. Clerc, who has often had to struggle to four or five set victories in the earlier rounds, suddenly found his touch yesterday. He concentrated on deep, raking shots, keeping the tall Australian pinned to the baseline, McNamara failed to get into the match and afterwards admitted that he had not had enough time to prepare for the tie. . “Clerc hadn’t been playing well up until today but when it came to it, I couldn’t get into the game at all,” McNamara said.