Hana Upsets Chris to Face Martina in Tennis Final

Third seed Hana Mandlikova, seeking the one Grand Slam title that has eluded her, advanced to Wimbledon’s singles final for the second time with a 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 upset today of second seed Chris Evert Lloyd.

On Saturday, Mandlikova will meet top seed Martina Navratilova, a six-time Wimbledon champion who today scored a 6-2, 6-2 victory over 16-year-old Gabriela Sabatini, the tournament’s youngest semifinalist of the century. Mandlikova defeated Navratilova in the 1985 U.S. Open finals.

Evert Lloyd will miss the women’s final for just the second time since 1978.

Mandlikova trailed Lloyd 2-5 in the second set but won 14 straight points and the final five games of the match.

‘Felt Good Inside’

“I always thought, ‘(Grass) is my surface,’ but every time I played Chris on it, she beat me easily,” said Mandlikova, who won the Australian title in 1980 and the French in 1981. “Today I felt good inside before the match.”

“Hana played very smart,” said Evert Lloyd. “She’s a very close No. 3 (ranked) player and still going up.

“I just couldn’t reach deep down and hit the shots I did earlier (in the tournament). The shots just weren’t there. Hana played smart, aggressive tennis.”

Navratilova lost her serve just once in defeating 10th-seeded Sabatini. It was the first meeting between the two.