Tennis Roundup : 20-Year-Old Czech Beats Connors

When Miloslav Mecir was 12 years old, he watched televised coverage of Jimmy Connors playing tennis at Wimbledon and thought no one could beat him.

Saturday afternoon, however, the 20-year-old unseeded Czechoslovakian did.

Mecir, ranked 60th in the world, posted the biggest upset of the new season when he defeated the second-seeded Connors, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, in the semifinals of the $300,000 U.S. Pro Indoor tennis championships before a shocked crowd of 10,608 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.

Today, Mecir will face top-seeded John McEnroe in a battle for the $54,000 first prize. McEnroe eliminated Scott Davis in their semifinal match, 6-2, 6-4.

Mecir said that after a few games, he decided the 32-year-old Connors wasn’t as dangerous as he looked.

“Five years ago he was a hero to me,” Mecir said. “Today, I saw he was just like other people.”

Mecir said although the victory was the greatest of his career: “I had no special feeling when Jimmy missed the last point of the match.”

Connors placed the blame for the loss on his mistakes rather than on Mecir’s ability.

“I didn’t have any zip on the balls. Ninety-five percent of my shots were falling inside the service line,” he said.

Top-seeded Martina Navratilova and second-seeded Chris Evert Lloyd won at Key Biscayne, Fla., to set the stage for today’s final in a $150,000 tournament.

Navratilova defeated ninth-seeded Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 6-2, 6-3. Lloyd beat Mareen Louie, 6-2, 6-1.