Navratilova celebrates

Press, 20 October 1987, Page 39

Navratilova celebrates

NZPA-Reuter Filderstadt, West German Martina Navratilova celebrated her thirty-first birthday yesterday with a fortieth career win over Chris Evert to capture the Filderstadt women’s title. The 7-5, 6-1 win in an allAmerican final lasting 73 minutes gave Navratilova a special birthday present: the tournament’s first prize of a Cabriolet sports car from the * sponsor, Porsche. * “You don’t really want to * play on your birthday in case J you lose,” Navratilova said » afterwards. “I was lucky to » win the first set but I man- ‘ aged to. pull it out.” J Evert and Navratilova have * clashed 75 times since they » first met on a tennis court in

Ohio 14 years ago. But Evert, aged 32, has rarely played better than she did in a thrilling first set and only - a cruel stroke of luck stopped her winning it. Evert, who was having the better of the match, dropped her serve at 5-5 through a bad line call and a lucky net cord in Navratilova’s favour. • The top-seeded American, Tim Mayotte, overcame a spirited fightback by an unseeded West German, Ricki Osterthun, to win the men’s singles title at the Toulouse Grand Prix tennis tournament in Toulouse yesterday. Osterthun threatened an upset when he captured the second set but Mayotte reasserted his authority in the

third to win 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. Mayotte had not dropped a set in the run-up to the final and appeared in similarly irresistible mood as he served and volleyed strongly to swing through the first set and lead 4-3 and 40-0 on his service in the second. But the West German, who had also overcome a one-set deficit in Sunday’s semi-finals against the American, Tim Wilkinson, broke service for 4-4 and levelled the match in the twelfth game with another service break on his second set-point. However, Mayotte quickly regained the initiative when he broke Osterthun’s service in the. opening game of the deciding set.