Lendl First to Qualify for Masters Tournament

Ivan Lendl’s victory last weekend at Sydney, Australia, has made him the first player to qualify for a berth in the season-ending Masters Tournament, Dec. 2-7, at Madison Square Garden.

Lendl is seeking to become the first player ever to win the tournament five times and has made the finals seven times. He has won the last two Masters, in January and December, 1986, when the $500,000 tournament was moved to a pre-Christmas time slot.

Lendl has won $887,621 this year and leads the Grand Prix standings with 4,194 bonus points.

Lendl has won six tournaments this year, including the French and U.S. Opens, and was a finalist at Wimbledon. He has a singles match record of 61-6 this year and has been No.1 in the ATP computer rankings since Sept. 8, 1985.