THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 13 : Tennis : Mayotte, Mecir Advance to Final

Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia will play Tim Mayotte of the United States in the Olympic tennis tournament men’s singles final here Friday. It will be the Big Cat against the home run bat.

Mecir, renowned Swede killer, lived up to his reputation here Wednesday, beating top-seeded Stefan Edberg, 3-6, 6-0, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. It was a match that resembled a ride on a roller-coaster.

Mayotte, a frequent top 15 player who never seems a threat to be a frequent top 5 player, knocked off a fellow American, Brad Gilbert, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, in a tournament in which Americans have assured themselves of five medals. It was a match that resembled a street mugging.

Mecir and Mayotte offer a sharp contrast in styles. Mecir is nicknamed the Big Cat because that is exactly what he looks like as he glides around the court, effortlessly pouncing on opponents’ shots.

Mayotte is a tall, strong serve- and-volley player who goes for pace and depth on each shot. If he were a baseball player, he’d be Jose Canseco.

Mecir is most comfortable at the baseline and seems to play well on any surface. Mayotte is good on hard courts--the next-best thing to grass for him--and comes to the net like somebody hooked up to a rubber band. He probably takes split steps on his way to breakfast.

When they meet Friday, with the gold medal at stake, it will be only the second match between the two, even though both are tour veterans.

“We played one match before, an exhibition in Wilmington, Del., last year,” Mecir said. “I didn’t do so well. He beat me in 2 sets.”

Mayotte said: “We played only once before, in an exhibition in Wilmington, Del. I remember doing well. I beat him in 3 sets.”

No matter how many sets, Mayotte was the winner and would appear to be favored for the gold, because he is seeded second, a notch above Mecir. That is based on Assn. of Tennis Professionals computer rankings as of Sept. 1, where Mayotte was No. 9, Mecir No. 10.

But you could get plenty of betting action around here, were you inclined to side with the form chart that has Mayotte a peg ahead. That’s mostly because Mecir is one of the most intriguing players in the game today.

“He is very unpredictable,” Edberg said afterward. “In the 6-0 second set, I just didn’t move. That can happen to you when you are playing him. He makes you feel like you can’t do anything.”

That’s similar to what Gilbert felt while playing Mayotte.

“He was the aggressor,” Gilbert said of Mayotte. “I thought he played his best match of the week.”

The 6-foot 3-inch Mayotte had 7 aces in the 2-hour 9-minute match. Some players chip and charge. Mayotte swings for the fences and follows his stroke in to see how many windows he has broken.

In the Mecir-Edberg match, the key point occurred with Edberg serving at 2-3 in the fifth set. On break point, Mecir hit a return that was called in by a linesman, despite Edberg’s protest, and that put the Czech up an insurmountable break.

Mecir said, “After that, all I had to do was hold serve.”

For the United States, tennis has emerged as a high spot.

Besides the gold or silver by Mayotte and the bronze by Gilbert, Pam Shriver and Zina Garrison made the women’s doubles final Wednesday; Garrison will get at least a bronze in the women’s singles, and the top-seeded men’s doubles team of Ken Flach and Robert Seguso had at least a bronze going into their semifinal Thursday.