French Open Tennis Championships : As Expected, It’s Down to Lendl vs. Wilander

For 12 days, the glory has been spread around Roland Garros Stadium. People such as Eric Winogradsky, Tarik Benhabiles, Ricki Osterthun and Jimmy Arias made headlines during the first week. Then came more familiar names: Jimmy Connors, Yannick Noah, Boris Becker.

But Friday night, when all the red clay dust had cleared and there were only two men left to play for the French Open title, they were the two people most would have predicted to be in the final 126 matches ago: Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander.

Both won with ease Friday, Lendl outwaiting Miloslav Mecir for three hours, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6, in a match so dull that many spectators chose to walk the grounds in search of lunch rather than watch one endless rally after another. They came back to see Wilander give Becker a lesson in clay-court tennis during a 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 match that barely lasted two hours.

And so, it will be Lendl-Wilander on Sunday, each man seeking his third French title. “I thought coming into the tournament I had a good chance to get to the final,” Wilander said. “But I didn’t expect it to be this easy. I think I haven’t had to prove yet how well I’m playing here. Sunday, I think I’ll have to.”

Actually, Wilander proved plenty Friday. Becker has worked very hard this spring to improve his clay-court game and has succeeded in becoming more patient, in choosing his spots to come in, in learning to slice his backhand. And, for six games, he played textbook clay-court tennis.

He broke Wilander in the third game of the match at love and, in the seventh game, he had six break points to go up 5-2. But each time, Wilander saved himself and, finally, he came up with two service winners to win the game and trail 4-3. Almost no one, including Becker, knew it, but the match was over at that moment.

“I had a good chance there,” Becker said. “I was playing well. I really had him. But when I lost that game he just got rolling and rolling and I couldn’t stop him. If I win that game, I win the first set. If I win the first set, it’s a completely different match.”

One person who didn’t agree was Wilander. “In the beginning he was playing really well and I wasn’t,” the Swede said. “But I wasn’t that worried because I knew I would start to play better. If he had won that game, I think he might have won the set, but I think it was much more important for him to win it than for me. Maybe he would have played better after that. All I know is, he didn’t.”

Beginning with Becker’s sixth break point, Wilander won 27 of the next 32 points, eight games in a row.

“I’m just very confident right now,” Wilander said. “I know I can attack when I want to, but I also know that my patience will be there when I need it. So far, I haven’t needed it.”

Friday, he hit every shot imaginable, sending Becker tumbling and diving in the red dust, usually in vain. Becker’s only moment of vindication came when he caked himself with clay while diving for a volley but jumped up and saved three match points and the game to trail 5-2 in the third.

It was gritty tennis, but all it did was delay the inevitable, Wilander serving out the match at love.

“Last year I was at the matches physically but not in them mentally,” Wilander said. “I only practiced because I thought I had to, not because I wanted to. Now, I really want to play and I really want to win.”

Becker wanted to win just as much as Wilander. He has never reached a final on clay, but he is certainly getting closer. Friday, he was a little bit like a Wagnerian Siegfried, admirably courageous yet inevitably doomed.

“Mats is still the best player on clay, he’s number one,” Becker said. “Two years ago, when I played him here (an equally thorough second-round trouncing), I was not nearly as good a player as I am now. But he’s a much better player now than he was then, too.”

Wilander went on to win the title that year, beating Lendl in the final. Both men have come a long way since then, Lendl winning three Grand Slam events since that loss while Wilander has become a much better all-court player. Friday, Lendl had to revert to his old game somewhat, junk-balling Mecir for much of the match.

“He likes a lot of pace on the ball, and I didn’t want to give it to him,” Lendl said.

Lendl got the break he needed in the first set when Mecir botched a volley. From there, Lendl swept through the first two sets. It took time, though, since no one wanted to attack and the crowd grew squirmy, whistling its disapproval.

In the third set, Mecir came from 0-2 down to lead 5-3, but just as quickly went back into his daze. Serving for the set at 5-4, he made four straight errors to lose the game at love. He was just as careless in the tiebreaker, falling behind 3-0, getting back to 4-2, only to double-fault. Match point was one more missed backhand, the crowd politely applauding a match it was just as glad to see end as go into a fourth set.

Today, No. 2-seeded Steffi Graf of West Germany risks a 38-match winning streak against No. 1-seeded Martina Navratilova in the women’s singles final.

Graf, 17, has won her last six tournaments, while Navratilova, 30, has not won a tournament this year.