Tennis Roundup : Lendl Plays Nystrom for Milan Title

Czechoslovakia’s Ivan Lendl defeated countryman Miloslav Mecir, 7-5, 6-4, Saturday in the semifinals of a $385,000 Grand Prix tournament at Milan, Italy, and will meet Sweden’s Joakim Nystrom for the $60,000 first prize.

Nystrom advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Anders Jarryd. Nystrom won the decisive tiebreaker, 7-5, for the second victory in 12 matches against his countryman.

The meeting between Lendl and Mecir was their first in a Grand Prix tournament. “I’m not very happy, since I did lose,” Mecir said. “But I still don’t consider Lendl unbeatable.”

Mecir said Lendl’s habit of waiting until the last possible second to serve was intimidating. “Waiting that long made me nervous,” Mecir said.

Chris Evert Lloyd set up a showdown with longtime foe Martina Navratilova by defeating Kathy Rinaldi, 6-4, 6-2, in a Virginia Slims tournament at Dallas.

Earlier, Navratilova beat Hana Mandlikova 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

Navratilova will be trying to win her seventh Dallas tournament.

Lloyd, who lost to Navratilova in last year’s final, said: “I am playing pretty good right now and so is Martina. It should be interesting like it always is.”

Navratilova is 35-32 lifetime against Lloyd.

France’s Yannick Noah defeated West Germany’s Boris Becker, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, in an exhibition match at Innsbruck, Austria.