San Francisco Tennis : Lundgren Beats Lendl--Plays Pugh in Final

Finally, on the fifth match point, Peter Lundgren achieved what no one else had since Wimbledon.

He beat Ivan Lendl. Lendl was carrying a 25-match winning streak that started after he lost to Pat Cash in the Wimbledon final.

Lundgren, after it looked as if he couldn’t deliver the final blow, finally defeated Lendl, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6, in a 3-hour 12-minute semifinal match at the Transamerica Open Saturday night at the Cow Palace.

“It just happens,” said Lendl, the No. 1-ranked player in the world. “When I had my chances, I didn’t take advantage of them. And I didn’t get first serves in in the tiebreaker.”

In all, Lundgren had squandered four match points, hitting extremely nervous-looking groundstrokes into the net and way out of the court. Lendl, too, had his chances, blowing two match points.

Then, with Lundgren serving at 9-8 in the tiebreaker, he hit a backhand down the line, and Lendl hit a forehand into the net.

Their match was a fitting end to a long day of tennis. In the opening semifinal, Jim Pugh of Palos Verdes Estates defeated Todd Nelson, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4. Certainly, after a week of upsets and the absence of John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, no one could have expected this kind of a day.

McEnroe, of course, is in the midst of his 60-day suspension for his U.S. Open outburst during his third-round match again Slobodan Zivojinovic. He pulled out of the Los Angeles tournament because his wife, Tatum O’Neal McEnroe, hadn’t given birth. She had their second child, Sean, during that tournament, and McEnroe was ready to play in San Francisco. Then, his appeal was denied, and the suspension kicked in.

The next blow was dealt when Connors withdrew because of a foot injury. He also had to default because of heat exhaustion in a final against Andre Agassi during a special exhibition in Florida the day before the L.A. tournament started.

For some time, Lendl, too, looked like a no-show here. He withdrew in order to have a cyst removed from his neck. However, after last-minute negotiations, Lendl relented and accepted a wild-card spot.

The next problem arose once the tournament began. No. 2 Tim Mayotte, No. 4 Henri Leconte and No. 6 Scott Davis all lost in the opening round. No. 5 David Pate, champion at Los Angeles, went out in the second round as did No. 3 Brad Gilbert, No. 7 Kevin Curren and No. 8 Jay Berger. That left one seeded player in the field, Lendl.

So, essentially, the first semifinal at the Cow Palace was a matchup only a true tennis aficionado would love: Pugh, ranked No. 58 in the world, against the No. 165-ranked Nelson.

In fact, Nelson wasn’t even supposed to be in this tournament. If it hadn’t been for Paul Annacone’s injury, Nelson would probably be back home in San Diego, practicing for his next tournament.

But Annacone, who hurt his back at Los Angles, pulled out of San Francisco and Nelson got in as the “lucky loser.” Nelson had lost in the final round of qualifying here and gained entrance into the main draw because he had the highest ranking of the other qualifiers who had lost in the final round.

Nelson defeated Matt Anger and Eliot Teltscher to reach the semifinals, while Pugh upset Mayotte and defeated Woody Hunt and Sammy Giammalava. Neither Nelson nor Pugh had won a Grand Prix event this year, although the latter reached the final at a minor tournament in Schnectady, N.Y.

Thus, the semifinal was clearly nerve-wracking for both Nelson and Pugh. Neither served very well as there were 13 breaks in all, Pugh was broken five times and Pugh eight.