Tennis Roundup : Lendl Is Winner in Australia

Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia brushed aside Henri Leconte of France--and a religious fanatic who walked on court during the match to serve drinks and preach a sermon--to win the final of the $280,000 Australian Indoor championships, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6, Sunday at Sydney.

Lendl, the U.S. Open champion and the world’s top-ranked player, earned $45,000 for winning his eighth Grand Prix victory of the year, and improved his match record for 1985 to 66 victories and six defeats.

Leconte, 22, lost in the final of this tournament for the second time in three years. He rushed to a 3-1 lead in the opening set, but was never allowed to find any rhythm after that and finally lost after 2 hours and 37 minutes.

Play was held up during the ninth game of the third set with the score at deuce and Leconte about to serve when a man dressed in the official caterers’ uniform walked onto the court carrying a silver tray, two glasses of orange juice, and a stack of religious pamphlets.

To the astonishment of the players, officials and crowd, he put the tray down in the center of the court and proclaimed loudly, “I would like to bring these gentlemen two drinks.”

He then began babbling about the evil of credit cards and the devil before being escorted away by embarrassed officials. The tournament was sponsored by a credit finance company.

“I was really really mad at that. Not for the security reason, but because they were too gentle with him,” Lendl said afterward. “They should have been rougher with him.”

At Tokyo, second-seeded Scott Davis defeated fourth-seeded Jimmy Arias, 6-1, 7-6, in an all-American final and for the men’s singles title in the Japan Open.

Davis, ranked 16th in the world, earned $20,000 for his first Japan Open title, while Arias, the 25th-ranked player, took home $10,000.

At Basel, Switzerland, second-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden overcame top-seeded Yannick Noah of France, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-1, to win the $150,000 Swiss Indoor tournament.

At Filderstadt, West Germany, top-seeded Pam Shriver defeated Catarina Lindquist of Sweden, 6-1, 7-5, to win a $175,000 women’s Grand Prix event.

At Tel Aviv, top-seeded Brad Gilbert won the $94,000 Israel Grand Prix tournament by defeating Israel’s Amos Mansdorf, 6-3, 6-2, in the final.