Lendl wins final

Press, 25 October 1982, Page 26

Lendl wins final

NZPA Melbourne The power of Ivan Lendl proved too much for Vitas ■ Gerulaitis in the final of the $400,000 Mazda Superchallenge at Festival Hall, Melbourne, on Saturday evening. Lendl demoralised the American in straight sets, winning 6-2, 6-2, 7-5. to win the $lOO,OOO winner’s cheque. Gerulaitis banked $70,000 as runner-up. Lendl’s ground strokes and pin-point accuracy had Gerulaitis on the baseline throughout the opening two sets, with Lendl breaking service almost at will. Lendl broke Gerulaitis’ opening serve with a fearsome backhand passing shot down the line and he kept the American frustrated and bewildered by mixing his game with drop shots and acutely angled passing shots. The match was a replay of their clash in the Masters Championship in New York where Lendl staged a magnificent fight-back to win the

title after Gerulaitis had led two sets to love. It was Lendl’s best performance against the American this year. Lendl now leads their’encounters 4-3. Lendl raced through the first two sets in a little more than 60 minutes and then quickly ran up to a 5-1 lead in the final set before Gerulaitis opened up with a series of attacking shots to get back into the match. Gerulaitis had earlier made it easier for Lendl by losing service with double faults and unforced errors. After holding serve in the seventh game of the third set Gerulaitis levelled the scores at 5-5. The ground work, however, had already been done by Lendl and he made no mistakes in the twelfth game. An ace gave him three match points and, although Gerulaitis managed to retrieve the first with a drop shot, a final ace from Lendl sealed the match. •