Tennis Roundup : Mecir Breaks Down McEnroe and Wins WCT Finals Crown

Czechoslovakia’s Miloslav Mecir, who didn’t win a set from John McEnroe in two previous matches, beat him decisively, 6-0, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, Sunday in the WCT Finals championship match at Dallas.

Mecir, ranked fifth in the world, earned $200,000 for winning his fourth title of 1987. McEnroe, ranked seventh in the world, won $100,000.

Although it was the biggest payday in Mecir’s six-year career, the 22-year-old Czech said the victory over his No. 1-ranked countryman, Ivan Lendl, at Key Biscayne, Fla., earlier this year was the most meaningful.

“There were more matches (at Key Biscayne), so it was harder,” Mecir said. “But I don’t know how much better I can play.”

Mecir beat McEnroe in every phase of the game, breaking McEnroe’s serve 10 times. He was successful on 78% of his first serves to McEnroe’s 64% and had only 35 unforced errors to 51 for his opponent.

In their last match in the Netherlands two weeks ago, McEnroe won, 6-1, 7-5.

“I was not in such good shape then, and he was serving better,” Mecir said after Sunday’s match.

McEnroe, who had 15 aces in his semifinal victory Friday over top-seeded Stefan Edberg, had none in Sunday’s 2-hour 36-minute match.

“He played a smart match,” McEnroe said. “He was doing things intelligently enough that I wasn’t able to take advantage.

“He’s probably one of the quickest in the game. I just wasn’t able to move as well as he was.”

McEnroe said he was hindered by a hip injury he aggravated in Friday’s semifinal and by Sunday’s early start.

“That’s crazy to have a match at 10 in the morning,” he said.

Mecir played brilliantly from the base line, consistently flicking passing shots past McEnroe, a four-time WCT winner.

Mecir needed only 27 minutes to win the first set--the first love set lost by McEnroe since the 1985 Australian Open.

In the second set, McEnroe’s serve improved and he broke Mecir in the seventh and ninth games to win the set and tie the match.

In the third set, there were service breaks in six of the first seven games and, at one point, McEnroe, continuing to berate chair umpire Gerry Armstrong, threatened to leave the court.

McEnroe was penalized one point in the second game of that set for an obscene remark directed at line supervisor Keith Johnson. The 28-year-old New Yorker then stalked off the court and began packing his rackets, saying: “I’m not going to play anymore. I don’t have to play.”

McEnroe said his concentration wandered after the outburst.

“When that thing happened in the third set, what I had going for me--getting a couple of breaks, hitting the ball better--it all seemed to cave in,” he said.

When asked how he dealt with McEnroe’s outbursts, Mecir said: “I just try to concentrate, but it’s very difficult.

“It’s not nice to play in such an atmosphere. Sometimes it looks like he’s going to do it (argue) again, then he starts to play. I try to behave like my parents (taught) me.”

At Hilton Head Island, S.C., top-seeded Steffi Graf lost her concentration, but not her title.

The 17-year-old West German defeated Bulgaria’s 20-year-old Manuela Maleeva, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, at the Sea Pines Racquet Club to win her second consecutive Family Circle Magazine Cup title.

“I just missed some easy ones. I was not concentrating enough,” said Graf, who earned $60,000 to $27,000 for the sixth-seeded Maleeva. “It seemed like my concentration was on and off.”

Graf, unbeaten in 17 matches in 1987, used her powerful forehand to improve her record to 4-0 over Maleeva, who stunned Chris Evert Lloyd in the semifinals.

But Maleeva said she made a tactical error by not mixing up her shots more.

“I shouldn’t be playing only to her backhand,” she said. “I should have done this from the beginning, mix it, make her run all over the court.

“Her forehand isn’t dangerous if she’s running. It’s dangerous when she’s standing and hitting. This I should have realized earlier in the match.”