Tennis : McEnroe Beats Gilbert; Noah Eliminates Mecir

John McEnroe needed only 66 minutes to defeat Brad Gilbert, 6-1, 6-2, and Yannick Noah overcame a temper tantrum to beat Miloslav Mecir, 6-4, 6-2, Friday to advance to the semifinals of the $500,000 AT&T; Challenge tennis tournament.

In night matches, Ivan Lendl met Mikael Pernfors, and Boris Becker faced Mats Wilander.

Lendl (2-0) has already clinched a spot in the semifinals of the round-robin tournament. Pernfors (0-2) has already been eliminated.

“There was no fooling around today,” said a smiling McEnroe, who breezed through the first set in 26 minutes. “I played well. This was a big match for me.”

Noah was on the verge of going up, 5-4, at break point against Mecir when chair umpire Leon Lipp called a shot down the line by Noah out.

The Frenchman exploded and threatened to quit.

“I’m not playing anymore. The tournament is over for me. The ball was right under his nose on the line. The guy is cheating me,” Noah said as officials tried to calm him down.

After about a seven-minute delay, Noah agreed to play. He won the next two points to go ahead, 5-4, and took the match on his serve.

He then eliminated Mecir with precision tennis in the second set.