Tennis Roundup : Mecir Beats Aussie in New South Wales Final

Top-seeded Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia defeated Peter Doohan of Australia, 6-2, 6-4, to win the $105,000 New South Wales Open tennis championship Sunday at Sydney, Australia.

The 22-year-old Czechoslovakian required only 76 minutes to become the first No. 1-seeded player to win the title since the tournament went open in 1968. He earned $17,780.

It was Mecir’s second tournament victory in four weeks. He won the Auckland Grand Prix tournament in New Zealand in early January and then made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open at Kooyong.

The 25-year-old Doohan, ranked 180th in the world, was playing in his first Nabisco Grand Prix tournament final in 13 months.

Mecir said he entered this event for two reasons--to get an early start on grass in hopes of improving on his quarterfinal defeat at Wimbledon last year, and to get a first hand look at White City in the event he has to return for Davis Cup competition.

If Czechoslovakia and Australia, the current Cup holder, win their first two matches this year, there is a likelihood the countries will meet in the semifinals at White City in October.

“I feel I am playing well on grass,” Mecir said. “I am getting used to the surface, I am getting more comfortable.”

At Tokyo, Czechoslovakia’s Helena Sukova and West Germany’s Claudia Kohde-Kilsch defeated the American duo of Pam Shriver and Elise Burgin, 6-1, 7-6, Sunday to win the 13th Bridgestone Doubles women’s tournament.

The winners, seeded No. 1 in the three-day tournament, earned $60,000, while Shriver and Burgin won $30,000.

Sukova and Kohde-Kilsch, both over 6 feet, dominated at the net, using their power to break their opponents’ serve twice in the first set.

The second set proved to be a tougher battle before Sukova and Kohde-Kilsch clinched the tie-breaker to end the match in 72 minutes.

A team led by Chris Evert Lloyd defeated a Martina Navratilova-led trio, 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, Sunday in a women’s singles “relay” match at Osaka, Japan.

Joining Lloyd, ranked second in the world, were Steffi Graf of West Germany and Carling Bassett of Canada. Navratilova, ranked No. 1, was joined by Hana Mandlikova of Czechoslovakia and fellow American Kathy Rinaldi.

Lloyd won 11 games, including 6 of 7 against Navratilova, who won 5. Graf and Mandlikova won 9 each, Bassett 8 and Rinaldi 5.

The exhibition match permitted substitutions at the end of any game, and each member of the Lloyd team earned $20,000. The losers each received $10,000.