Lendl Knocks Off Gerulaitis, 6-4, 6-1

Ivan Lendl needed 57 minutes to polish off the subbing Vitas Gerulaitis, 6-4, 6-1, in an exhibition tennis match Monday night at the Forum.

Displaying a sharp baseline game, Lendl repeatedly hit passing shots beyond the reach of the charging Gerulaitis, who was a substitute for Jimmy Connors.

Connors withdrew from the match last week with a back injury.

Lendl broke Gerulaitis in the sixth game and took a 5-2 lead before Gerulaitis won two games in a row. Lendl then broke Gerulaitis in the 10th game to take the first set.

Lendl then breezed through the second set, winning the first five games before Gerulaitis held service. Lendl then served out the match.

“I was hitting the ball better than the last time,” said Lendl, who had lost two earlier exhibitions at the Forum to John McEnroe. “The court is slower than before.”

Gerulaitis, who agreed Friday to replace Connors, said his game was adequate, but not in top form.

“I was a little sluggish, but I didn’t make too many mistakes,” he said. “To play him, you’ve got to be at the peak of your game. I enjoy playing someone that good. I wish I had more time to prepare.”

The match was the third in a series of exhibitions called the Forum Championship Tennis Challenge, a seven-match, round-robin event that concludes with a superfinal match April 14, 1986.

Both players came off a day of international traveling to play in the match.

Only 24 hours before, Lendl had defeated Boris Becker in a four-hour, five-set final match of the Benson and Hedges championships in London.

Gerulaitis was at Kennedy Airport in New York en route to Milan, Italy when contacted about the match. While returning from Milan, Gerulaitis made stopovers in Paris and New York before flying into Los Angeles.

In the first half of the exhibition, Stan Smith outlasted Ilie Nastase, 7-6, 2-6, 7-6.