Tennis Roundup : Lendl and McEnroe Will Go at It Again

Top-seeded Ivan Lendl outlasted 17-year-old Andre Agassi, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, in the $315,000 Volvo International semifinals at Stratton Mountain, Vt., Saturday to set up his first meeting with John McEnroe in almost two years.

McEnroe, seeded fourth, reached the final by defeating 15th-seeded Christo van Rensburg, 6-4, 6-2.

Lendl and McEnroe have not played since the 1985 U.S. Open final, won by Lendl in straight sets.

McEnroe said of their last meeting: “That was really when the tide turned, when he became No. 1 and I became No. 2. It’s my first chance to play the guy who took my spot.”

McEnroe was seldom troubled in Saturday’s match with Van Rensburg. Lendl, however, had his hands full with Agassi, who became the crowd favorite when he upset Wimbledon champion Pat Cash in the second round.

Lendl fired 17 aces and needed them all, as Agassi was able to match Lendl ground stroke for ground stroke.

Lendl broke the Las Vegas teen-ager twice to win the first set and appeared on his way to an easy victory when he broke again for 4-3 lead in the second set. But Agassi, ranked 90th in the world, broke back and won the set in the 12th game.

“I was kind of nervous out there,” Agassi said. “I wasn’t moving my feet. In the second set I said, ‘Hey, it’s time to play some tennis.’ ”

Lendl took control again in the third set, but Agassi went down fighting.

“He played better than 90 today,” said Lendl, who is seeking his third straight Volvo title. “It was fun out there for a while.”

Even in the final set, Lendl joked with Agassi and, at one point after hitting three straight aces, he quipped, “When you get to be 25, 15 years from now, you’ll need aces to win, too.”

Today’s match against McEnroe promises to be more serious, although Lendl said beating McEnroe meant “nothing” to him.

“I didn’t come here to hunt McEnroe; I came here to get ready for the U.S. Open,” he said.

McEnroe, however, looked at the match differently.

“I feel I’m on the right track,” he said. “Playing Lendl would be a good barometer for me to see how far away I am.”

At San Diego, unseeded Anne Minter of Australia and third-seeded Raffaella Reggi of Italy advanced to the final of a $75,000 Virginia Slims tournament.

Minter upset top-seeded Lori McNeil, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, while Reggi defeated eighth-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-4, 6-3.

Reggi has won all four previous meetings with Minter. Today’s winner will receive $15,000.

“I don’t want to take anything away from her (Minter), she played a good match,” McNeil said. “I had many opportunities to win the match. . . . She didn’t win the match, I lost it. It all has to do with confidence. I’m not playing very well and it showed today.”

Minter did not entirely agree.

“In the end, she did make a couple of volley errors, but I think I deserve a lot more credit than that. I played really well today and I was confident with my passing shots,” she said.

Top-seeded Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia and second-seeded Emilio Sanchez of Spain battled their way into the final of a $250,000 tournament at Kitzbuhel, Austria.

Mecir routed Darren Cahill of Australia, 6-1, 6-2, and Sanchez defeated Tore Meinecke of West Germany, 6-2, 6-2.

“For me, Mecir is the greatest talent there is at the moment,” Sanchez said, looking ahead to the today’s final. However, he added, “he can also have a bad day.”