TENNIS INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIPS : Sanchez Has Answers for Lendl

As he did all day long, Emilio Sanchez had an answer for Ivan Lendl.

After Sanchez upset Lendl, 6-3, 6-7 (7-3), 6-4, Wednesday in the fourth round of the International Players Championships, the top player in the world said the Spaniard won’t win the tournament.

“I don’t know (if I can),” Sanchez said. “He can’t, for sure.”

In another major upset, Conchita Martinez of Spain knocked off top-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina, 7-6 (10-8), 6-2.

Lendl fought off three match points to bounce back from a 5-2 deficit to trail, 5-4, in the final set.

He couldn’t hold serve in the 10th game and lost to Sanchez for the first time in four meetings.

“In my career, I’ve beaten most of the guys--(Boris) Becker, (John) McEnroe, (Stefan) Edberg--but not in the same tournament,” Sanchez said. “Lendl was the only one that I could never beat.

“I’ve come close many times, and today I almost let the match escape from me. When I had the match points and didn’t win them, I kept telling myself to keep trying and keep fighting. If he beats me, he beats me.”

Lendl said he would have preferred to have been someplace else this week because he usually doesn’t play well in South Florida’s humid weather.

“I never felt I was out of the match because I was coming back and started to play better,” he said. “But I never felt I was in control, because when you’re down and serving into the wind, no one can feel in control.

“Every time I come down here, it’s humid and I don’t feel like the ball is coming off the racket the way I wanted it to.”