Lendl wins German Open

Press, 17 May 1989, Page 31

Lendl wins German Open

NZPA-Reuter Hamburg, West Germany Ivan Lendl stepped up his bid to win the French Open starting in two weeks when he beat Austrian Horst Skoff in the West German Open tennis final yesterday. The Czechoslovak world No 1 took just two hours 12 minutes to dispose of Skoff, ranked No. 31 in the world, 64, 6-1, 6-3, for his fifth grand prix singles title of the year. Lendl, who will be looking for his second grand-slam

title of the year in Paris having already won the Australian Open, has been in impressive form throughout the week-long, $692,000 tournament played on his favoured clay courts. • The third seed, Kent Carlsson, continued a series of disappointments by bowing out of the Italian Open tennis championships to old friend Mark Koevermans in yesterday's first round in Rome. To add insult to the defeat, unseeded Dutchman Koevermgps, a -6-4, 6-4 winner, was

playing against doctors’ orders with a broken toe while Carlsson — whose career catalogue of injuries would fill a medical dictionary — declared himself in perfect physical shape for once. Australian Mark Woodforde, the No. 16 seed, also made his exit, beaten, 6-2, 6-3 by Spain’s Fernando Luna but American Aaron Krickstein, the No. 7 seed, had an almost effortless 6-3, 6-2 victory over Andres Vysand, of the Soviet Union. .