Tennis Roundup : McNamee Beats Gilbert, and Australia Leads U.S., 1-0

Paul McNamee rallied to defeat Brad Gilbert, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-1, today (Friday) to give Australia a 1-0 lead over the United States in their best-of-5 Davis Cup semifinal at Brisbane, Australia.

Gilbert appeared to be in control during the third set, but the 31-year-old Australian played nearly flawless tennis in the final two sets, serving and volleying with tremendous skill.

McNamee reeled off 11 straight games after the 10-minute break following the third set.

The result made a mockery of the world computer rankings. Gilbert is ranked 12th in the world, while McNamee is ranked 42nd.

But Gilbert, playing only his third Davis Cup, collapsed under the relentless late onslaught from the Australian, a two-time Wimbledon doubles champion and a seven-time Davis Cup member.

Tim Mayotte was to face Australia’s Pat Cash in the second singles match later in the day.

Paul Annacone and Ken Flach are scheduled to face Cash and John Fitzgerald in the doubles Saturday with the reverse singles slated for Sunday.

The winner of the tie will play either defending champion Sweden or Czechoslovakia in the final.

Martina Navratilova, closing in on her 1,000th career victory, defeated Lori McNeil, 6-2, 6-0, in the second round of a $150,000 tournament at New Orleans. If Navratilova wins the tournament, she will have 999 victories.

“I thought she deserved to win more games than she did,” Navratilova said of her unseeded opponent. “She didn’t get the breaks.”

In other matches, unseeded Kate Gompert upset seventh-seeded Robin White, 6-3, 6-2; Wendy Turnbull of Australia defeated Marianne Werdel, 6-2, 6-4, and Pam Shriver beat Larisa Savchenko of the Soviet Union, 6-1, 6-1.

Second-seeded Paolo Cane of Italy was upset in the second round of the $117,000 Sicilian championships.

Cane, the Italian champion, was plagued by stomach troubles from food poisoning and put up little resistance against countryman Claudio Mezzadri, losing 6-2, 6-2, at the Palermo Tennis Club.