In the Heat, Muster Makes It Too Close for Lendl’s Comfort

It became clear Friday that neither pain nor sun nor heat of day could keep Ivan Lendl from his appointed round--the final one at the Australian Open.

Lendl, his feet toasted on a Center Court surface that reached 127 degrees, may have been within one shot of a fifth set and possible defeat in his semifinal match with Thomas Muster.

But at 5-5 in the fourth set, Muster drilled an easy overhead into the net on game point and eventually double-faulted the game away to Lendl, who gratefully accepted the break and served out the match.

His 6-2, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 victory over Muster was a narrow escape for Lendl in his quest to win his first Australian Open and reclaim the No. 1 ranking he relinquished to Mats Wilander almost 5 months ago at the U. S. Open.

Standing between Lendl and the spot he covets is Miloslav Mecir. After a cold start on a hot day, the lanky Czech scored a straight-set victory over Jan Gunnarsson, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.

Mecir spent almost an hour flat on his back in the locker room after the match to recuperate from the heat. He said he felt an odd sensation at the beginning of the match.

“It is a strange feeling,” he said. “The air feels so warm. All the court is cooking.”

Mecir was asked how hot it was.

“It’s difficult to say,” he replied. “I don’t have a thermometer on my body.”

Gunnarsson, who lost the first set after going up, 3-0, and serving for it at 5-3, dropped the last two sets in less than an hour.

“I really couldn’t do too much,” said Gunnarsson, who changed his shoes but not his luck in the heat of the first set. “It was like running in chewing gum.”

Both semifinals were hotly contested. Drinking ice water while sitting beneath umbrellas to escape the sun during changeovers, Lendl and Muster said they had never played four sets under hotter conditions.

How hot was it? Lendl was asked if it was as hot as, well, that other place, the real down under.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve been a good boy lately.”

Muster, a clay-court specialist, unleashed his topspin and had Lendl on the run in the third set and again in the fourth until the match swung in the 10th game.

After double-faulting to 15-15, Muster worked his way to 40-30, when he had Lendl trapped at the baseline and forced him into a week lob. Muster, waiting at the net, smashed the ball into the tape.

When Muster double-faulted to give Lendl a 6-5 lead, that unforced error looked even worse. When Lendl served out the match at love, the mistake proved fatal.

“I just over-hit it,” said Muster, his face a bright red from sunburn. “I should have played a little angle ball. It would have been enough. I forced it too much and I just missed.”

As the match wore on, the heat became more of a factor. Lendl admitted tiring in the third set but said he was getting a second wind and was getting stronger toward the end.

“In the fourth set, he was getting more and more tired,” Lendl said of Mecir. “He was still coming down and I was leveling off for the last 45 minutes.

“I know from my experiences when I go biking that it should be me who gets stronger. I actually felt pretty good, even though I lost the third set.”

Muster said he wore two pairs of socks and still got blisters on his feet.

“I feel like I could jump into some ice water,” he said.

Lendl lost only 5 points on his serve in the first set, which he won on set point by serving an ace. Lendl won the second set by a single break that occurred in the fifth game.

At break point, Muster hit a forehand into the net to end a baseline duel.

Lendl fought off 3 set points in the third, but Muster wouldn’t let him get away. A backhand winner past a flat-footed Lendl gave Muster a break as well as the set, 7-5.

They played evenly until Muster finally cracked in the 10th game of the 4th set.

He said he lost the ball in the sun on both of his double faults and commented wistfully on his lost opportunity.

“He was just pushing the ball back on his returns,” Muster said. “He was getting very tired. I had a chance. If I had taken the fourth set . . . but still he broke me at 5-5, and that’s it.”

Lendl said that in addition to the heat, he was affected by the lack of circulation in the bowl-shaped Center Court with the retractable roof. But in the end, Lendl said, what his day in the sun boiled down to was a matter of opportunity.

“In the heat like this, both players are going to be very tired,” he said. “Who is most experienced and who is going to take advantage of chances?

“Even after he missed that (smash), I felt like I was stronger than him physically. I still had my serve, I still had the tiebreak and I still had a possible fifth set. I was a higher player at that time than he was.”