Tennis Roundup : Wilander Ends Vilas’ Bid; He’ll Meet Jaite for Title

Top-seeded Mats Wilander of Sweden denied age, and Martin Jaite of Argentina ended a schoolboy’s fantasy Sunday in the semifinals of the $267,000 U.S. Pro tennis championships.

Wilander, 20, finished the comeback hopes of Argentina’s 32-year-old Guillermo Vilas, 6-1, 6-3 in a rain-delayed match under the lights at the Longwood Cricket Club in Brookline, Mass.

In the afternoon, Jaite advanced to tonight’s championship round with a 7-6, 6-1 win over 18-year-old Bruno Oresar of Yugoslavia.

Before running into Wilander, Vilas had flashed a little of his old form in winning four consecutive matches.

But Wilander completely dominated the match, winning the first set in 41 minutes. Then, with the Swede leading 3-2 and 30-0 on his serve, the match was delayed for 2 hours 32 minutes by rain.

When play resumed, Wilander lost his serve in the eighth game but broke back to end the match 13 minutes after the long delay.

The 18-year-old Oresar appeared on the verge of a fifth consecutive upset after holding a 6-5 lead in the first set, but the 20-year-old Jaite fought off two set points to tie the score, 6-6.

Oresar took a 2-0 lead in the tiebreaker. Then, at 2-2, he double-faulted and it was all over.

With Oresar’s confidence shattered, he managed only 15 points in the second set.

At Newport, R.I., 33-year-old Tom Gullikson won his first singles title in 11 years on the Grand Prix circuit when he upset John Sadri, 6-3, 7-6, in the $117,000 Volvo Tennis Hall of Fame Championships.

“It was good to finally get the monkey off my back,” said Gullikson, who picked up the $20,000 first prize after losing in four previous finals. “At least I can say I won one tournament in my life.”

Gullikson, ranked 85th on the men’s circuit, defeated four seeded players in his five matches at Newport, including No. 1 Johan Kriek, No. 4 David Pate and No. 8 John Fitzgerald. Sadri, who upset No. 2 Tim Mayotte in the semifinals, was seeded No. 6.

Joakim Nystrom of Sweden defeated Andreas Maurer of West Germany, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, to become the first player since 1968 to win the $150,000 Swiss Open two years in a row. The last player to win at Gstaad, Switzerland, two consecutive years was Roy Emerson of Australia in 1967 and 1968.