Tennis Roundup : Mayotte Successfully Defends His Title, Beating Fitzgerald

Second-seeded Tim Mayotte won his second straight U.S. Pro Indoor tournament at Philadelphia Sunday with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 victory over 16th-seeded John Fitzgerald.

Mayotte, who defended the title he won with a four-set victory over John McEnroe last year, stretched his winning streak to 15 matches to take home the $123,800 top prize in the $600,000 tournament.

Fitzgerald, who beat top-seeded Ivan Lendl in the third round, won $61,900 to put him over the $1-million mark for his career.

“He hit a lot of second shots well and made a lot of great passing shots,” Fitzgerald said. “I felt I gave him some trouble on his serve. I thought I had some chances.”

Trailing 40-love in the seventh game of the fourth set, Mayotte won five straight points to break Fitzgerald and take a 4-3 lead on two straight service return winners.

“If he had held that game, it would have been tougher,” Mayotte said. “I had been having some trouble holding, and it could have been two sets all.”

Mayotte saved one break point and went ahead 5-3 when Fitzgerald netted a volley. Fitzgerald saved two break points after Mayotte passed him twice at the net but was broken for the match when he double faulted.

In previous meetings, Mayotte had beaten Fitzgerald twice, on carpet at Luxembourg in 1984 and on hard court at Las Vegas in 1985.

At Fairfax, Va., top-seeded Martina Navratilova had some bad news for the rest of the women’s tennis world--”I’m back.”

Navratilova routed longtime doubles partner Pam Shriver, 6-0, 6-2, in the final of the $300,000 Virginia Slims of Washington for her third-straight tournament victory.

“I don’t think I’ve ever won three finals in a row this decisively, even in my heyday,” said Navratilova, who won at Dallas two weeks ago and last week in Oakland. “Right now I’m putting it all together when it matters.”

It was Navratilova’s 23rd straight victory over Shriver, who was seeded second. Navratilova won the first six and the last six games to improve her lifetime record against Shriver to 33-3.

“She just isn’t missing anything now,” Shriver said. “This is the best I’ve ever seen her play.”

Navratilova, who has slipped to No. 2 behind Steffi Graf after a five-year reign at the top, was asked if she was headed toward another heyday.

“You bet,” she said. “I’m in one right now.”