Tennis Roundup : Lendl Breaks Down Edberg, 6-4, 7-6, in Final

Ivan Lendl broke Stefan Edberg’s serve three times in a second-set tie-breaker to win the $375,000 Player’s International, 6-4, 7-6, Sunday at Montreal.

Lendl said illness forced him to consider defaulting during the match. He said he suffered from irregular eating and sleeping habits.

“I’ve been feeling sick to my stomach during the last few days,” Lendl said. “I was thinking of defaulting in the first and second sets. I couldn’t have played a third set.”

Lendl said he has seen a doctor about his fatigue and plans a few days rest to get his stomach in order before resuming practice for the U.S. Open.

It was Lendl’s fourth Player’s championship since 1980. He won $68,850. Edberg, who lost to Boris Becker in the final last year, earned $25,500.

In the semifinals played earlier in the day, Edberg beat defending champion Becker, 6-2, 6-4. Lendl defeated Jimmy Connors, 7-5, 6-4.

Both semifinal matches started in mid-morning after being rained out Saturday.

In the final, Lendl trailed, 4-1, in the second set before he switched to a serve-and-volley game. He broke Edberg’s service in the seventh game, then pulled even, 4-4.

In the 10th game, Lendl held service but was helped by a questionable line call that brought whistles and jeers from the crowd and a brief visit by Edberg to the chair umpire.

After going to deuce four times before winning the 11th game, Edberg’s skills at the net deserted him, and he managed only one point as Lendl tied the score and sent the set into a tiebreaker.

Lendl won the tiebreaker, 7-1, closing out the match in 1 hour 58 minutes.

Becker was flat in his semifinal match against Edberg, making 19 unforced errors and recording only one ace.

The loss ended a stretch of seven straight victories against Edberg.

Connors’ defeat in the semifinal against Lendl was the 13th straight time he has lost to the Czechoslovakian.

In the $180,000 Cedok Open at Prague, fourth-seeded Marian Vajda defeated fellow Czechoslovakian Tomas Smid, 6-1, 6-3, in the final.

Vajda, 22, who prefers the slow clay of Prague’s Svanice stadium to fast surfaces, broke Smid’s service five times in the match, while Smid broke Vajda’s service only once, in the sixth game of the second set.

Before Sunday’s victory, Vajda was ranked 49th in the world. He won $30,000 and a crystal glass racket.

Vajda fell behind, love-40, three times in the second set, but he forced Smid to go on the defense as he hit topspin cross-court passing shots in quick succession from the baseline and drop shots from the net.

Smid, seeded third in the tournament, nearly broke Vajda for the second time in the match in the eighth game, pulling to deuce three times. It took Vajda more than half an hour to play the last two games and wrap up the victory.

Pedro Rebolledo of Chile overcame a second-set rally by a weary Francesco Cancellotti of Italy to gain a 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 win in the final of a $117,000 Grand Prix at Saint Vincent, Italy.

It was only Rebolledo’s second victory on the Grand Prix circuit. The 26-year-old from Santiago also won a South American event in 1982.

Rebolledo, ranked 154th, won in 2 hours 10 minutes.