Wilander Beats Lendl in Marathon : Swede Takes Over No. 1 Ranking With Victory in U.S. Open

Mats Wilander ended Ivan Lendl’s three-year reign as U.S. Open champion and took over his No. 1 ranking with a dramatic five-set victory Sunday in the longest final in Open history.

The 24-year-old Swede, who won the 1988 Australian and French Opens, became the first player since Jimmy Connors in 1974 to win three Grand Slam events in one year by beating Lendl, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. The match lasted 4 hours 54 minutes.

Wilander also halted Lendl’s bid for a record fourth straight Open title and prevented him from breaking Connors’ mark for the longest stretch at the top of the computer rankings.

Wilander, the first Swede to win the U.S. Open, will replace Lendl as the No. 1 player when the new rankings are released today. Lendl needed to remain at the top until Oct. 3 to break Connors’ record of 159 straight weeks at No. 1.

Last year, Lendl and Wilander played a match that lasted 4:47 in another Open final that featured long and grueling baseline rallies.

Wilander had lost six straight matches to Lendl, five of their eight Grand Slam meetings, and 13 of their 19 matches overall.

But Sunday he forgot the past and concentrated on the present against Lendl, who lives just down the road from him in Greenwich, Conn.

It was the first five-set Open final since John McEnroe’s victory over Bjorn Borg in their 1980 classic.

Wilander was also the champion of the French and Australian Opens this year.

The 62-minute first set was typical of the match, featuring long baseline rallies that sometimes lasted more than 20 strokes.

Lendl saved a break point in the eighth game when Wilander netted an easy forehand volley and held serve to make it 4-4.

But Wilander broke in the 10th game to win the set when Lendl made two straight backhand errors. Lendl had saved a set point earlier in the game when Wilander hit a backhand inches wide.

Wilander broke Lendl in the second game of the second set on a lunging stab volley and moved out to a 4-1 lead. But Lendl regained his form and won the next five games to even the match.

After squandering six break points in the second set, Lendl finally broke Wilander in the seventh game with a forehand winner to pull within 4-3.

Wilander appeared to be thrown off stride at 30-all when chair umpire Jay Snyder gave him a warning for stalling on his serve. Lendl won the next two points with a forehand volley and a forehand winner.

Wilander took a 30-15 lead in his next service game, but Lendl hit a backhand on the next point that nicked the net and skipped past Wilander for a winner.

After Wilander made two forehand errors to lose the game, Lendl served out the 58-minute set at love.

There was only one break in the 46-minute third set, and it belonged to Wilander. He broke Lendl at 15 in the second game on a crisp forehand volley.

Wilander, not known as a powerful server, lost only four points on his serve the rest of the set.

One of the key points in the set was a muffed overhead by Lendl in the fifth game. He could have taken a 30-15 lead with a successful smash and moved into position to break Wilander back. But Lendl hit the ball straight down on his side of the court, then missed two backhands to drop the game and fall behind 4-1.

The players held serve in the fourth set until Wilander broke to take a 4-3 lead. Lendl led the game, 30-0, but Wilander came back to win it as Lendl made three unforced errors.

Lendl broke back with a perfect backhand lob in the next game and broke again in the final game with a forehand volley that landed on the line.

At set point, someone in the stands threw two balls on the court that bounced just in front of Wilander as he was about to toss up a second serve. Because of the distraction, Snyder gave Wilander two serves. After returning a second serve, Lendl rushed the net and hit the winning volley.