Lendl Ousts McEnroe With Pinpoint Backhand

If it were possible on a steamy summer afternoon to freeze one moment in time, it would look like this:

Ivan Lendl scorching a backhand cross-court winner just out of John McEnroe’s reach in the far corner, inches inside the baseline.

In a chillingly efficient display of power tennis, Lendl pounded one backhand after another at his oldest and once most formidable opponent, who could only shake his head in bewilderment.

“It was unbelievable,” McEnroe said.

With the temperature reaching 138 degrees on the floor at center court, Lendl defeated McEnroe, 7-6, 6-2, 7-6, Wednesday to advance to the Australian Open semifinals.

Lendl will play Thomas Muster, who won his quarterfinal match when Stefan Edberg had to default because of a back injury.

After defeating McEnroe for the 15th time in 29 meetings, Lendl joked that his backhand wasn’t really that effective.

“I think I missed one,” he said.

McEnroe, who lost only two service games even though he was defeated in straight sets, simply could not overcome Lendl’s amazingly accurate groundstrokes.

Lendl had 25 backhand winners, many of them passing shots, all of them hit with devastating power. McEnroe, who had 2 backhand winners, threw up his hands after Lendl finally sent a backhand passing shot wide in the third set.

“I kept waiting for him to miss, but he just kept hitting winners,” said McEnroe. “It was surprising. Nine out of 10 guys would make (only) half those shots.”

Lendl, who thought McEnroe was affected by the heat, said the match may have been decided in the first-set tiebreaker, which he won, 7-0, each point coming on a winner.

1-0 Lendl--backhand cross-court winner.

2-0 Lendl--backhand cross-court winner.

3-0 Lendl--backhand winner.

4-0 Lendl--service winner.

5-0 Lendl--backhand winner down the line.

6-0 Lendl--forehand cross-court winner.

7-0 Lendl--backhand volley winner.

Lendl put the first set in his pocket along with the sawdust he carries to keep his grip dry. Then, when Lendl broke McEnroe in the first game of the second set, the outcome seemed inevitable.

“That was a 2-set swing, potentially,” McEnroe said.

Said Lendl: “I got hot for about 10 minutes and that won me 2 sets.”

Lendl said he noticed McEnroe moving a step slower to the net at that stage, which made the passing shots even more effective.

“When he is outplaying you and he gets you in a tiebreaker, then you come out and hit 7 cold winners, that doesn’t (make McEnroe) feel too good, no,” Lendl said.

McEnroe didn’t even have a break-point opportunity in the match. Lendl held 2 break points with McEnroe serving, 15-40, 5-5 in the third set, but McEnroe forced deuce on successive volleys and held on a service winner and an angled backhand volley.

But because he could put no pressure on Lendl’s serve, there was little chance for him.

“I felt I played well, but I wasn’t at that great level,” McEnroe said. “I did the best I could, it just wasn’t good enough today. There’ll be other days.”

Lendl held serve to force a third-set tiebreaker, which was 2-2 on McEnroe’s serve when Lendl signaled the beginning of the end.

A cross-court forehand winner was followed by a backhand cross-court winner and a 4-2 lead. McEnroe dumped Lendl’s second serve into the net and hit a volley out to set up match point at 6-2. Lendl ended it with a forehand winner.

What else?

Earlier in the day, there was a winner who got a good break because of a bad back.

Muster got to the semifinals without hitting a ball.

Edberg was thinking about luck, too, or about not having any. “It’s just a very, very, very unlucky thing to happen,” he said.

The two-time Australian Open champion, who injured his back only 2 points from closing out Pat Cash in Tuesday’s match, was forced to withdraw from the tournament Wednesday morning when his back did not improve.

Muster, who would have played Edberg in the quarterfinals, was told of Edberg’s decision just after he walked off the practice court. Edberg said there was nothing he could do.

“It’s so stiff, I can’t really move,” Edberg said. “I can’t even put my socks on.”

Edberg’s back was X-rayed Wednesday morning and the tests were negative, although he said he is not sure what the problem may be.

“We think it’s strained ligaments, but it could be muscle spasms,” he said.

Edberg, who described the sensation at the moment of his injury as “a knife in my back,” said he will take at least 2 weeks off, possibly longer. He said he does not want to take any risks with his career.

Muster, a 21-year-old Austrian, said he felt a little sorry for Edberg . . . but not too much.

“I don’t feel bad about it,” Muster said. “I can’t feel sorry I’m in the semifinals.”

Jan Gunnarsson, who will play Miloslav Mecir next, is quite happy to be in the semifinals. He just can’t believe it.

“I’m very surprised,” Gunnarsson said. “It’s like a dream. I don’t know yet what I have done.”

Gunnarsson, 26, ranked No. 85 in the world, defeated fellow Swede Jonas Svensson, 6-0, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. After giving Svensson an opening in the third set, Gunnarsson broke him in the first game of the fourth set and held serve the rest of the way to win.

Mecir had little trouble defeating 17-year-old Goran Ivanisevic of Yugoslavia, 7-6, 6-0, 6-3.