Tennis Roundup : Lendl, Cash Are Upset Victims in Quarterfinals

Top-seeded Ivan Lendl and third-seeded Pat Cash of Australia were upset in the quarterfinals of the $150,000 Hamlet Challenge Cup Friday at Jericho, N.Y., where rain forced matches indoors for the second straight day.

Lendl, the world’s top-ranked tennis player, was beaten by eighth-seeded David Pate of Las Vegas, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6. It was only Lendl’s sixth loss of the year.

Cash, who has struggled since beating Lendl in the final at Wimbledon, was eliminated by unseeded Jonas B. Svensson of Sweden, 6-7, 6-2, 7-5.

Both matches were moved indoors to the Port Washington Tennis Academy from the host Hamlet East facility because of rain.

Seventh-seeded Henri Leconte of France advanced to the semifinals when third-seeded Jimmy Connors had to retire from their match due to a blister on his foot. Leconte trailed, 3-6, 3-2, when Connors retired.

In the final match, unseeded Paul Annacone ousted fourth-seeded Andres Gomez of Ecuador, 6-3, 6-2.

Pate, ranked 19th in the world, served 11 aces and kept Lendl off balance. He took a 4-1 lead in the first set and had Lendl battling uphill after that.

“When Pate serves like that, he can beat anybody, especially indoors,” Lendl said.

Pate used two aces to win the 12th game of the second set but missed a match point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker as Lendl rallied to even the match at a set apiece.

“I played pretty well,” Pate said. “It’s the best I have served probably since the last time we played.”

In that match, Pate beat Lendl in the Tokyo Open last April.

Lendl, obviously frustrated, was warned for racket abuse when he smashed and broke it during the third-set tiebreaker, as Pate erased an 0-2 deficit, pulled even at 3-3 and won the last four points to take the match.

Lendl, winner of the Hamlet the last three years and top-seeded in next week’s U.S. Open, said: “It would have been better to play outdoors. Absolutely. No question about it. Every time you go indoors it’s different. I need to peak pretty soon with the Open starting next week.”

Cash’s problems with Svensson, No. 24 in the world, included a loss of concentration.

He complained about the court conditions, saying, “The court isn’t up to standard.” He also was warned twice by umpire Joe Lynch for bad language.

There were five service breaks in the third set, the crucial one occuring as Svensson returned three Cash serves for winners, dropped a point, then won with a well-angled volley.

Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria upset top-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia and will face her older sister, Maneula, in a semifinal match of the $150,000 United Jersey Bank women’s tournament tonight at Mahwah, N.J.

Katerina Maleeva, who is unseeded, scored two service breaks in each set to beat Sukova, 6-2, 6-3.

Manuela Maleeva, who is seeded third, beat eighth-seeded Raffaella Reggi of Italy, 6-4, 6-3. In other quarterfinal matches, fourth-seeded Lori McNeil defeated Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, and sixth-seeded Sylvia Hanika of West Germany beat Dianne Balestrat of Australia, 6-2, 7-5.

Richard Matuszewski defeated Martin Flur, 7-5, 6-1, at the Rye Racquet Club in Rye, N.Y. to reach the semifinals of the NYNEX Open.

The matches were moved indoors from the Rye Town Hilton Hotel because of rain.