Masters Doubles Tennis : Mecir, Smid Earn Their 5th Title of Year

Czechoslovakia’s Miloslav Mecir and Tomas Smid upended Wimbledon champions Ken Flach and Robert Seguso in four sets Sunday to win the $200,000 Masters Doubles tennis championship at Albert Hall.

The Czechs earned their fifth title of the year and a check for $72,000 by winning, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7, 6-3, in 3 hours 5 minutes.

On the way to the final, the team of Mecir and Smid was the only one of eight entries to remain unbeaten in its five matches. Twice during the round-robin event they beat the defending champions, Stefan Edberg and Anders Jarryd, who are likely to be Sweden’s doubles team in next week’s Davis Cup final against India at Goteborg, Sweden.

The Czechs exploited mistakes by the Americans, especially by Flach’s fragile two-handed backhand.

From the moment Seguso’s serve was broken in the opening game, the Czechs had a firm hold on the final, which at one stage looked as if it would be over in three sets.

Seguso was adamant that his side had chances to win, however.

“We definitely had more chances to break than they did. The trouble was we didn’t take them,” he said.

“They are a good team, but we all came out flat for the final. They came out stale, we came out staler,” Seguso said.

Smid, who has won 49 doubles titles in 9 years with 18 different partners, said his team played marginally better than the Americans.

“But we could have won in straight sets,” he said. “It was not our best play of the tournament, but we played just a little bit better then they did.”

Mecir, who is ranked No. 6 in the world as a singles player, said he hoped that despite his busy schedule the pair would be able to compete in the major doubles events next year.

“We hope to stay as a partnership for a couple more seasons,” he said.

Flach and Seguso have won 19 doubles titles together.