McEnroe loses, Lendl wins

Press, 5 December 1985, Page 80

McEnroe loses, Lendl wins

NZPA-AAP Melbourne Tennis fans hooted the temperamental American star, John McEnroe, off Kooyong’s'centre court yesterday afternoon as he slumped out of the Ford Australian Tennis Open. The jeers came as the tournament’s second seed gave a lethargic display in the closing stages of his five set quarter-final clash with the Yugoslav, Slobodan Zivojinovic.

Zivojinovic’s 2-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory was the biggest shock of the tournament — probably more than the Wimbledon champion, Boris Becker’s thrashing by the Dutch player, Michiel Schapers last Friday. In the fifth set McEnroe looked likely to advance to the semi-finals — but he slumped.

McEnroe did not win a game in the fifth set, and in the fifth game was down, 040, on his own serve before he struggled to deuce. But he lost the advantage with a double fault and was down 5-0.

Zivojinovic aced McEnroe .twice in the final game. It was obvious there was neither interest nor punch in the American’s effort.

McEnroe picked up only one point in the last game. When the final ball was served to him he calmly took aim and shot it across court into an adjoining court.

The power-serving Czech, Ivan Lendl, was yesterday zeroing in on the quarter finals against England’s John Lloyd. Lendl, the world’s topranked player, grabbed the first two sets, 6-3, 6-2, against the South African, Christo Steyn. Lendl eventually won, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2.

In the opening set Steyn frittered away three break points against the big Czech, who then hauled himself clear of trouble