Tennis Roundup : Cash Defeats Mayotte and Gives Australia a 2-0 Lead

Pat Cash got past Tim Mayotte, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, in the completion of a rain-delayed match today at Brisbane, Australia, to give Australia a 2-0 lead over the United States in their Davis Cup semifinal meeting.

Mayotte led, 6-4, 1-2, when the match was halted Friday, but Cash completely dominated play when they resumed this morning.

Mayotte offered no excuses, saying: “He is very talented. I tried to change his pace a little. I really didn’t have any answers out there today.”

Australia, which has won the Davis Cup two of the last four years, was in a position to win the best-of-five semifinal later in the day when Cash and John Fitzgerald play Paul Annacone and Ken Flach in doubles. Australia took a 1-0 lead Friday when Paul McNamee defeated Brad Gilbert, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-1.

Cash, 21, returning to peak form after a back injury and an appendectomy, belied his world ranking of 80th with a confident, powerful performance.

The victories by Cash and McNamee boosted Australia’s hopes of defeating the United States in Davis Cup play for the first time since 1973.

The Aussies won, 5-0, in the final at Cleveland that year, but they have lost four subsequent matches against the United States. The countries did not meet in 1983, when Australia won the Cup by defeating Sweden in the final.

The United States last won the competition in 1982, beating France in the final.

The winner of this semifinal will face either Sweden or Czechoslovakia. Sweden took a 2-0 lead Friday in the best-of-five match series at Prague when Kent Carlsson routed Miloslav Mecir, 6-0, 6-2, 6-4, and Stefan Edberg beat Milan Srejber, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

At New Orleans, top-seeded Martina Navratilova reached the semifinals of a $150,000 Virginia Slims tournament with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Terry Phelps.

Second-seeded Pam Shriver, third-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina and fourth-seeded Zina Garrison also advanced.

Shriver beat Kate Gompert, 6-3, 6-0; Sabatini defeated Laura Gildemeister, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, and Garrison ousted fifth-seeded Wendy Turnbull of Australia, 6-4, 6-0.

Navratilova will play Garrison today, and Shriver will face Sabatini.