Noah, Lendl untroubled winners in French open

Press, 4 June 1984, Page 3

Noah, Lendl untroubled winners in French open

NZPA-AP Paris The defending champion, Yannick Noah, of France, and the No. 2 seed, Ivan Lendl, of Czechoslovakia, swept into the last 16 of the French open tennis championships yesterday. However, several other seeds in both the men’s and women’s singles struck plenty of trouble on their way to the fourth round, and

one, Sylvia Hanika, of West Germany, was eliminated. Noah, growing stronger with every match and serving magnificently, overwhelmed Australia’s John Frawley, winning 6-1, 6- 6-3. At one stage during the match, Noah won 24 out of 25 points on his service, which was never once threatened by the Australian. However, Noah, whose concentration is often suspect, said afterwards that he could do even better. “I need a good tough match. When you play a good player, your game improves. I feel better and better,” he said. Lendl, bidding to win his first-ever grand slam tournament, posted a 6-1, 7- 6-4 victory over Paul McNamee, of Australia. Two Swedish seeds, Mats Wilander (No. 4) and Anders Jarryd (No. 11), were the only other leading contenders to reach the fourth round untroubled. Jimmy Connors, trying to win the only grand' slam tournament that has eluded him, had more than a few problems before overcoming an Argentine qualifier, Martin Jaite. Connors dropped the first set playing tentative tennis and was surprised by the tenaciousness and speed around the court of 19-

year-old opponent. He had to save a series of break points early in the second set, but finally won 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1. The defending women’s champion, Chris Evert Lloyd, was also made to struggle. Lloyd, seeded No. 2 and going for her sixth French open title, dropped the second set against a littleknown Soviet teenager, Larissa Savchenko. Lloyd, beaten only six times on clay in her career, needed all her experience to reach the last 16. She had dropped only one game in her two previous matches, but found Savchenko a powerful opponent with furious ground strokes and a neat drop shot. Lloyd eventually won 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, and admitted afterwards: “There is no question about it, I was pushed. But I never thought I was going to lose and needed a tough match.” Lloyd moved on to a fascinating confrontation with Manuella Maleeva, who beat her in the final of the women’s Italian open last week. Maleeva beat Mimia Jausovec, of Yugoslavia, 6-1, 6-3. The only seed to be eliminated was Hanika. The No. 11 seed lost 6-4, 6-2, to Anne White, of the United States, who now meets a fellow American, Kathy Horvath.