TENNIS ROUNDUP : Lendl Bids McEnroe a Fond Toronto Farewell

Ivan Lendl made sure John McEnroe’s farewell appearance in the Player’s International tennis tournament was a losing one Thursday.

The third-seeded Lendl, a six-time Player’s champion, breezed past McEnroe, 6-2, 6-4, to advance to the semifinals.

McEnroe, a two-time champion who has lost six matches in a row to Lendl, plans to cut back on his playing commitments next year.

“The weeks I do choose to play I’ll have a tendency to go places I haven’t been to before,” said McEnroe, who has played in this tournament the past 16 years. He said the chances he will return to Toronto “are very, very minuscule. Slim is too high a percentage.”

McEnroe entered the quarterfinals on a roll, having lost four games in two matches. However, Lendl, ranked 12th in the world, played a nearly perfect match.

“I’m not hanging my head because I lost to him,” McEnroe said. “Not playing your best after playing so well is what’s disappointing.”

Lendl now faces 10th-seeded Wally Masur of Australia, who upset top-seeded Petr Korda of Czechoslovakia, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-3, after a 2 1/2-hour rain delay.

Second-seeded American Andre Agassi qualified for the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over eighth-seeded Amos Mansdorf of Israel. Agassi will play MaliVai Washington, who beat fourth-seeded Aaron Krickstein, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

Second-seeded Pete Sampras defeated 15th-seeded Tomas Carbonell of Spain, 6-4, 6-1, in the third round of the $392,500 Philips Head Cup clay-court tournament at Kitzbuhel, Austria.

Fourth-seeded Thomas Muster of Austria also reached the quarterfinals, beating Jaime Oncins of Brazil, 6-4, 6-2.

Muster, Sampras and fifth-seeded Emilio Sanchez of Spain are the favorites after the departure of such high-seeded players as No. 1 Jim Courier.

Karel Novacek of Czechoslovakia and France’s Fabrice Santoro breezed into the semifinals of the Dutch Open with straight-set wins over their Dutch opponents at Hilversum, Netherlands.

Novacek, ranked 23rd in the world and seeded third in this tournament, beat Jacco Eltingh, 6-3, 6-1. Santoro beat Jan Siemerink, 6-3, 6-1.