Tennis Roundup : This Time, Navratilova Goes 4 Sets

When the women decided to make the $500,000 Virginia Slims Championship title match a best-of-five, they neglected to tell Martina Navratilova, who defeated Hana Mandlikova, 6-2, 6-0, 3-6, 6-1, Sunday to win her third straight season-ending title at Madison Square Garden.

It was the first time women have played more than three sets in 85 years. This was the third year a best-of-five sets format was used, but Navratilova won the first two years in three straight sets.

“It was one of those days when everything clicks and you want to play three-out-of-five so that you can keep making those shots,” Navratilova said. “It was fun.”

The last women’s match to go more than three sets took place in July, 1901 when Elizabeth Moore defeated Myrtle McAteer in five sets in Philadelphia.

Navratilova earned $125,000 for the victory, and also picked up $250,000 this week as the winner of the bonus pool, $3,250 for her first-round loss in doubles, and $8,000 in the doubles bonus pool. Mandlikova, third in all-time women’s earnings, picked up $60,000 to bring her career winnings to $2,395,948.

“She was very fired up against me today,” Mandlikova said. “That was the best she ever played against me. I don’t think I played my best. I just couldn’t lift my game up more.”

Navratilova, who now makes Fort Worth, Tex., her home, won the second set in only 17 minutes. Mandlikova was able to win only six points in the set.

Then, in a lapse of concentration, Navratilova began missing her first serve and Mandlikova was able to get into the match.

Navratilova boosted her match record for 1986 to 26-1, but didn’t clinch the Slims title until Saturday when Chris Evert Lloyd lost to Mandlikova in the semifinals.

West Germany’s Steffi Graf took third place, worth $30,000, when Lloyd withdrew from Sunday’s scheduled match. The official explanation for Lloyd’s withdrawal was “fatigue,” and she was awarded fourth place.

However, instead of the $23,000 awarded to fourth place, she was given $18,000--the difference between fourth and a quarterfinal loser--with the other $5,000 going to Pam Shriver, who played an exhibition against Graf before the final.

Among the Madison Square Garden crowd of 16,108 was Navratilova’s mother, Jana, who will return to Czechoslovakia today after a two-month visit.

At Fort Myers, Fla., Ivan Lendl scored an overpowering 6-2, 6-0 victory over Jimmy Connors to win the $315,000 Paine Webber tournament for the second straight year.

Lendl, the world’s top-ranked player, hasn’t lost a match this year and has won 56 of his last 57. He needed only 72 minutes to finish off Connors, who is ranked fourth in the world.

“I just want to win so everybody will know who’s place is where,” Lendl said.

After Connors took a 2-1 lead in the first set, Lendl won the next 11 games and the $50,000 first prize. It was Lendl’s 25th consecutive match victory, and improved his 1986 winnings to $230,652. The Czech has not lost since last year’s Australian Open.

Connors, who hasn’t won a tournament in 17 months, picked up $25,000 for second place.

Top-seeded Mats Wilander of Sweden defeated Broderick Dyke of Australia, 6-2, 6-3, in the final of the $315,000 Belgian Indoor Championship at Brussels. In winning, the Swede ended a drought of tournament victories which dated back to last July.