U.S. Open Takes On Foreign Accent With 4 Czech-Born Players in Finals : Mecir Beats Becker in Five Sets, While Lendl Tops Edberg

Miloslav Mecir beat Boris Becker Saturday night in the semifinals of the men’s singles at the U.S. Open.

Helena Sukova beat Chris Evert Lloyd Friday. Martina Navratilova beat Steffi Graf Saturday afternoon, right after Ivan Lendl beat Stefan Edberg.

That’s four Czechoslovakian-born players in today’s two singles finals at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow. Never before in the Open’s 107-year history have four foreign-born players reached the men’s and women’s finals.

Mecir, the 22-year-old player who has been homesick to go back to Prievidza and do some serious fishing, upset the third-seeded Becker, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

For somebody not yet comfortable in the United States, Mecir has been at home the past two weeks. Seeded 16th, he defeated No. 2 Mats Wilander and No. 7 Joakim Nystrom to reach the semifinals.

“As I have said before, Mecir is the most difficult player on the tour to play,” Becker said. “You never know what he’s going to do.

“I can serve my best and he can hit a winner off it. No shot is for sure. He’s unpredictable. You are so many times off balance. He makes the easiest mistakes, then you can’t get to the next ball he hits.”

Mecir doesn’t have a big serve, but it goes where he wants it to. Although Becker served 13 aces to Mecir’s 2 and 43 service winners to the Czech’s 24, Mecir held two more service games and broke Becker one more game than he was broken.

“I believe the first serve is always dangerous,” Mecir said. “And you don’t have to hit the second serve if you get your first serve in. Today, I was trying to place the ball well.

“I try to hit the ball where I think is the best place. I don’t mind if he knows or he doesn’t.”

Mecir has a way of disguising his shots so that he often wrong-foots players. Even players as quick and intuitive as Becker. In Saturday’s match, Mecir ran Becker around the court and had to do little running himself.

Mecir’s philosophy on serving may have developed after his debacle at the World Team Cup in 1985. Then, Mecir’s serve fell apart early, and he resorted to serving the rest of the match underhanded.

“I was a little bit nervous,” Mecir said of that time. “Now it has been a year, and I feel better.”

Last year, Mecir was ranked as high as No. 8 in the world. He was just starting to emerge when he injured his knee playing soccer. He has had surgery twice to repair the damage.

Becker, meanwhile, must assess the damage to his own standing.

“Of course, it’s disappointing,” he said. “But I was trying as hard as I could. I was fighting, but this guy . . . you never know with him. I’m disappointed, but I’m not going to die.”

In the earlier men’s semifinal, defending champion Lendl beat Edberg, 7-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Edberg, the only serve-and-volley player among the Swedes, began the match by serving well. But his serve rapidly deteriorated as the mental toll of losing the first-set tiebreaker sank in.

“Stefan served so well. He puts so much spin on the ball,” Lendl said. “His spin is not a regular spin, it’s a different spin because when I look at my strings after I return the ball, the short strings are moving down the handle of the racquet. Normally the long strings are moving.

“I think he got a little bit mentally tired after the first set. He played a good first set and lost it.”

Today’s men’s final is scheduled for 1 p.m. PDT.