Simpson loses epic struggle

Press, 7 June 1982, Page 24

Simpson loses epic struggle

NZPA staff correspondent London

The Wimbledon champion John McEnroe had to fight all the way to beat the unseeded New Zealander Russell Simpson 6-3, 6-7,10-8, in the Greater Manchester men’s singles at Didsbury yesterday. Simpson, who was beaten 6-1, 6-2, by McEnroe in the recent New York Champion of Champions, said after he had made the 23-year-old American battle for every point: “That was an embarrassment and I was determined to play better.”

McEnroe who was on court two hours ten minutes before beating Simpson, said: "He gave me a better match than I expected.” The New Zealander did not get much chance to shine in the opening games of the first set and gave no indication of what was to come. However McEnroe then lost pace and the first three games in the second set. Simpson went into a 5-2 lead after he had broken McEnroe’s service in the sixth when the American double-faulted for the fifth time.

With the temperature rising to a scorching 28deg. the Wimbledon champion turned on some of his best shots and fought back for 6-6 but Simpson saved the match by taking the break. Early in the final set McEnroe called for a centreline judge after some disputed net calls, but this was the closest he came to getting into any sort of controversy. McEnroe who bad con-

ceded only 20 games in four previous rounds, stood on the brink of victory when he led 7-6 in the final set and was 40-15 up on Simpson’s serve in the fourteenth game. However then the 28-year-old New Zealander saved the first match point with a winning volley which came off the top of the net. The second match point went when McEnroe made a forehand error and with no tie-break to decide it, the final set became a marathon dtwl in the sun. McEnroe, who picked up $2760 for his win, said later: “I’m not serving at my best, but I think it'will be improving before Wimbledon. I think my comeback is going reasonably well.”

It was his first tournament after being out for almost a month with an injured ankle and the first time he had played on grass since Wimbledon.

“I don’t think this particular match will make or break my chances at Wimbledon,” he said. Ronald Atkin, in server,” said McEnroe’s comment that he was not serving his best was a “generous understatement.”

Atkin reported: "Eventually, in a tight and tiring final set, McEnroe needed all his experience and resourcefulness to extricate himself from the threat of a defeat which would have been distinctly embarrassing against an opponent ranked eightyeighth in the world and so little known here, even by the organisers, that he was introduced to the crowd as Mr Russell.