Tennis Roundup : Fitzgerald, Mayotte in Final Today

Australia’s John Fitzgerald, who upset top-seeded Ivan Lendl in the third round, advanced to the final of the $600,000 U.S. Pro Indoor tennis championships at Philadelphia Saturday night with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Mexico’s Jorge Lozano.

Fitzgerald, seeded 16th, will meet Tim Mayotte, the defending champion, for the singles title today. Mayotte, who beat John McEnroe in last year’s final, defeated South Africa’s Christo van Rensburg, 6-2, 7-5, in the other semifinal.

The second-seeded Mayotte, who has won 14 straight matches, actually used a set point against him to propel his way into the final. Trailing 2-5 in the second set, Mayotte saved that point with a service winner, held his serve and then won the rest of the games.

Lozano, making his first appearance in a Grand Prix semifinal, won only four points in the first five games and trailed, 5-0, in the first set before he held his serve for the first time.

Lozano, 24, played a little better to start the second set, holding his service twice. But Fitzgerald, who won four of his service games at love, saved four break points in the final game of the 61-minute match.

At Fairfax, Va., Martina Navratilova overpowered Hana Mandlikova, 6-4, 6-2, to join doubles partner Pam Shriver in the final round of the $300,000 Virginia Slims of Washington tournament.

Shriver earned a shot at the $60,000 top prize with a 7-5, 7-6 victory over Gabriela Sabatini.

Shriver broke the 17-year-old Argentine in the final game of the first set and won the last five points of the second-set tiebreaker.

Navratilova, who will be seeking her third tournament title in three weeks, is 32-3 against Shriver, including 22 wins in a row since losing to her in the quarterfinals of the 1982 U.S. Open.

Navratilova, who won tour events in Dallas and Oakland the past two weeks, beat Shriver, 6-0, 6-3, in the final at Dallas.