Lendl Battles Back to Defeat Wilkison

Ivan Lendl was almost ready to pack his bags and return to his home in Connecticut but he survived five match points and a tiebreaker to defeat Tim Wilkison Friday in the Head tennis tournament.

In his first tournament since losing the Wimbledon final to Pat Cash on July 5, Lendl, the top-ranked men’s player in the world, rallied to defeat Wilkison, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2.

“I took some time off, didn’t play any matches, and it’s always like this for me,” Lendl said. “It’s always like this for me when I don’t play. I don’t hit too many good shots and I don’t play good on big points. It just happens.”

The win advanced Lendl into today’s semifinal match against Aaron Krickstein, who defeated Bill Scanlon, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

In other action Friday, Jimmy Arias won five straight games in the second set to defeat Brad Gilbert, 6-2, 6-1, and earn a meeting with Todd Witsken in the other semifinal.