Tennis Roundup : Mayotte Clinches Victory for U.S.

American Tim Mayotte rallied to defeat Mexican Leonardo Lavalle, 7-5, 4-6, 0-6, 6-4, 9-7, Sunday at Mexico City, clinching a 4-1 victory for the United States in the Davis Cup World Cup Zone quarterfinals and prompting a fistfight between Lavalle’s father and Mexican reporters.

With tears in his eyes, Luis Lavalle criticized Mexican sportswriters, using profanities to accuse them of supporting “foreigners” instead of his son and the home team.

More profanities were exchanged, and Jaime de la Cruz, vice president of the Mexican Tennis Federation, and the elder Lavalle were seen exchanging punches with Mexican journalists. Security agents quickly broke up the melee.

Mayotte’s victory, which avenged his singles loss to Francisco Maciel on Friday, moved the United States into the semifinals opposite Australia, which defeated Britain, 4-1.

Later, Brad Gilbert won a meaningless best-of-three set match, beating Maciel, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5.

Service difficulties, which contributed to Mayotte’s earlier defeat, plagued him again Sunday. But, despite five double-faults, Mayotte managed to win the first set when he broke Lavalle’s service three times.

In the second set, the 8,000 mostly Mexican fans at the Sports Palace interrupted play so many times that chair umpire Francis Patrick Loderop penalized Lavalle one point and threatened to disqualify the Mexican team.

Mayotte, visibly angry with the crowd, argued with fans in the front benches. Obviously distracted, he served three more double-faults in losing the second set, then had three more while being shut out in the third set.

At one point, Mayotte became so upset by his service troubles that he threw himself down on the clay court in frustration.

But he regained his composure, breaking Lavalle twice each in the fourth and fifth sets to pull out the victory.

Lavalle said a stomach ailment for several days hurt his performance.

“I was sick for several days with stomach pains and that made me lose strength. But on the court, I gave it all I could and I think it was an excellent match,” he said.

In other Davis Cup matches, Australia and Britain split their singles matches Sunday at Wimbledon, England. Australian Pat Cash defeated Andrew Castle, 8-6, 6-4, and Britain’s Jeremy Bates rallied to beat Paul McNamee, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

At Bastad, Sweden, Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander won their singles matches as defending champion Sweden completed a 5-0 sweep of Italy.

Edberg, who is ranked No. 6 in the world, defeated Davis Cup rookie Paolo Cane, 6-3, 2-6, 6-0, and Wilander, the world’s No. 2-ranked player, beat Claudio Panatta, 6-4, 6-3. It was Wilander’s 24th victory in 30 Davis Cup singles matches.

Edberg replaced Joakim Nystrom in the final day singles, shortened to best-of-three sets because Sweden already had clinched the victory.

In the semifinals, the Swedish team will face Czechoslovakia, which completed a 5-0 sweep over Yugoslavia at Sarajevo when Milan Srejber defeated Slobodan Zivojinovic, 8-10, 6-2, 15-13, and Miloslav Mecir beat Igor Flego, 6-2, 7-5.

At Prague, a Czechoslovakian crowd gave a teary-eyed Martina Navratilova an enthusiastic welcome at the opening ceremony of the Federation Cup tournament, five years to the day after she was sworn in as a U.S. citizen.

Navratilova, 29, who defected as a teen-ager from her native Czechoslovakia 11 years ago and had never returned, said after the ceremony: “What really got me was when they played the national anthem. That’s when I had my weak moment.

“I know the Czechoslovak anthem by heart. I can’t deny where I came from--I mean this is my homeland--but my home is in the States,” she said.

Navratilova, the world’s No. 1 woman tennis player, had been in exile until she landed at Prague airport Saturday to lead the top-seeded U.S. team in the woman’s equivalent of the Davis Cup.

Loud applause greeted her when she entered the 7,500-seat Stvanice Stadium, wearing the U.S. team uniform.

“It was nice to hear the applause. I think it showed people here still remember me and like me. It’s not just because I’ve come back but I think they just appreciate what I’ve done in tennis,” she said.

Top-seeded Pam Shriver won a $150,000 Virginia Slims tournament at Newport, R.I., defeating fifth-seeded Lori McNeil, 6-4, 6-2.

It was the 13th career singles championship for Shriver, who collected $30,000. McNeil earned $13,600, her biggest pay check.

Shriver will join doubles partner Martina Navratilova and the rest of the U.S. team today for the Federation Cup matches in Czechoslovakia.