McEnroe cruises to semi-finals

Press, 1 July 1983, Page 26

McEnroe cruises to semi-finals

NZPA London John McEnroe cruised into the Wimbledon men’s semi-finals with a straight sets win over Sandy Mayer. But the 6-3, 7-5, 6-0 win was not without incident. In the ninth game of the second set with the score at 4-4, McEnroe threw his racquet along the baseline after missing a shot. The umpire, David Mercer, immediately stamped his authority over the match with a warning to McEnroe for racquet abuse. McEnroe made a short protest before accepting the decision. Mayer also made his presence felt when he told the umpire he would “take matters into his own hands” after McEnroe had slammed a ball in his direction after double-faulting. The quarter-final encounter lasted only Ihr 48min, , with a dispirited Mayer throwing in the towel after his close second set loss. McEnroe was able to win points at will in the thirdset at he raced through it in 22 minutes. He now meets his old rival, Ivan Lendl, in what should be the match of the tournament. In the other quarter-final, Tim Mayotte and Kevin Curren were locked in an enthralling battle. Curren, of South Africa, finally won 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, 7-6. He will now meet New Zealander, Chris Lewis, in the second semifinal. Mayotte took the first set 6-4, with the big-serving Curren, who aced top seed Jimmy Connors out of the tournament, unable to r

reproduce that form. But Curren hit back in the second forcing a tie-break after trailing 4-3 and a break.

Curren convincingly won the tie-break 7-4 and then beat Mayotte 6-2 in the third set.

Mayotte however, did not give in and soon held a 5-2 advantage in the fourth set after breaking Curren in the sixth game. Mayotte faltered in the ninth game when serving for the set. He lost his service to love and then Curren held his to 15 to make it five-all.

In the women’s doubles, the sixth seeded Wendy Turnbull and Rosie Casals had a relatively easy quar-ter-final, beating Andrea Leand and Mary Lou Piatek 6-3, 5-7, 6-2. Martina Navratilova, described this week by Virginia Wade as a “well-tuned Ferrari,” has a mere four hours on her clock at the Wimbledon tennis championships and is unlikely to get into overdrive in her semi-final.

Miss Navratilova, who has staged a one-woman demolition derby in her five previous matches, meets the unseeded Yvonne Vermaak, of South Africa.

Miss Vermaak, who has claimed the scalps of 12th seeded Virginia Ruzici and Miss Wade, has never beaten the reigning champion and is expected to provide little more than another workout for Miss Navratilova. Miss Navratilova said

that she was not concerned by the brevity of her five matches so far.

Miss Navratilova knocked over her pedestrian opponents as follows: Beverley Mould 6-1, 6-0 (31 minutes), Sherry Acker 6-4, 6-2 (81), Mima Jausovec 6-1, 6-3 (42), Claudia Kohde-Kilsch 6-1, 62 (37) and Jenny Mundel 6-3, 6-1 (49).

Men’s singles, quarter-finals: John McEnroe (United States) beat Sandy Mayer (United States), 6-3, 7-5, 6-0; Kevin Curren (South Africa) beat Tim Mayotte (United States), 4-6, 76, 6-2, 7-6.

Men’s doubles: quarterfinals: Tim Gullikson-Tom Gullikson (United States) beat Sam Giammalva (United States)Henrik Sundstrom (Sweden) 76, 6-3, 6-4; Peter Fleming-John McEnroe (United States) beat John Alexander-John Fitzgerald (Australia), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6- Anders Jarryd-Stefan Simonsson (Sweden) beat Brian Gottried (United States)-Paul McNamee (Australia), 0-6, 2-6, 7- 7-5, 6-2; Mike Bauer (United States)-Gilles Moretton (France) level with Kevin Curren (South Africa)-Steve Denton (United States), 4-6, 7-6, 7-6,6-7 unfinished.

Women’s doubles, quarterfinals: Barbara Potter-Sharon Walsh (United States) beat Svetland Cherneva-Larrith Savchenko (Soviet Union) 6-2, 6-3; Rosie Casals (United States)-Wendy Turnbull (Australia) beat Andrea LeandMary Lou Piatek (United States) 6-3, 5-7, 6-2; Martina Navratilova-Pam Shriver (United States) beat Mima Jausovec (Yugoslavia)-Kathy Jordan (United States) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3; Jo Durie-Anne Hobbs (Britain) beat Claudia Kohde-Kilsch-Eva Pfaff (West Germany) 6-3, 7-5.