Tennis Roundup : McEnroe, Lendl Will Play for Canadian Title Today

For the second week in a row, Ivan Lendl will meet John McEnroe in the final of a Grand Prix tennis tournament, and with the world’s No. 1 player at the top of his game, Lendl doesn’t like his chances today.

The No. 1-seeded McEnroe defeated No. 3 Jimmy Connors, 6-2, 6-3, in the semifinals of the $375,000 Canadian Open at Montreal Saturday, while No. 2 Lendl beat Jimmy Arias, 6-4, 6-2.

“I still don’t think my game is all there, so I won’t worry too much if I lose to McEnroe,” Lendl said. “I’m not as consistent or hitting the ball as hard as I’d like to.”

McEnroe, who defeated Lendl last Sunday in the final at Stratton, Vt., has a 13-11 edge in their last 24 meetings.

McEnroe, who hasn’t lost to Connors since 1983, had no difficulty winning in 1 hour 11 minutes. He had 13 aces. By the second set, McEnroe was on a tear.

“I was able to just blow it by him,” he said. “Jimmy tried to pick up the pace and was hitting it as hard as he possibly could. But I was able to just serve it out and hit like two aces a game my last three games I served.”

In her final tuneup before the U.S. Open, Chris Evert Lloyd defeated Hana Mandlikova, 7-6, 6-4, to win a $126,000 tournament at St. Louis.

After Mandlikova had gone ahead, 5-2, in the first set, Lloyd stormed back, winning 12 straight points during one stretch. At 4-4 in the second set, Lloyd won the next two games for the match.

“She’s a threat to me, definitely, and I think also to Martina (Navratilova),” Lloyd said of Mandlikova. “She’s brilliant at times, but it’s hard to keep it up. She’s too flashy at times. She let me in the match.”

Steffi Graf of West Germany and Kathy Rinaldi moved into the final of the $150,000 United Jersey Bank tournament at Mahwah, N.J., both staging comeback victories.

Graf defeated Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. Rinaldi beat Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.

The match between the 16-year-old Graf and the 15-year-old Sabatini pitted two of the rising stars in tennis. Graf is ranked 10th in the world, Sabatini 12th.

Sabatini, who upset top-seeded Pam Shriver in Friday’s quarterfinals, appeared to tire in the second set. Also, she was troubled throughout by a blister on the small toe of her right foot.