1st RD VS CLAUDIA CASABIANCA
Mandlikova turns back Casabianca 6-2, 7-5 MAHWAH, N.J, (UPI)
Hana Mandlikova, the young Czech who narrowly missed beating the world’s top players in 1980, scored a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Claudia Casabianca of Argentina yesterday to advance to the third round of a $100,000 tennis tournament at Ramapo College.
Mandlikova, seeded No. 5, needed 63 minutes to defeat her opponent. She now will meet Bettina Bunge of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who earned a 6-1, 6-4 decision over Glynis Coles of Britain.
Mandlikova, who has moved from No. 17 to No. 9 in the world computer standings, was in control from the start, but still experienced her usual problems in the second set.
The duel concluded on the sixth match point when Casabianca committed her third double fault. The 18-year-old from Prague, who patterns her serve and volley game after her idol Billie Jean King, won the first set in three matches with Chris Evert Lloyd, one with Martina Navratilova, and one with Evonne Goolagong. Evert‘s triumphs came in the semifinals of the Italian, French and Canadian Opens.
“I still have a long way to go to make it among the top three or four players,” said Mandlikova. “But I am working hard with Betty Stove (her new coach) and I am starting to concentrate better.”
Bunge, who lost here in the first round last year to Mandlikova, expects a tough third-round match. Earlier this year in Los Angeles, Mandlikova had to rally for a 6-7, 7-5, 7-6 victory.
2d RD vs BETTINA BUNGE
Mandlikova a rising star By Jack O’Connell (THE RECORD, Hackensack, NJ)
Not all the promising teen-agers in women’s tennis are products” of American suburbs. Hana Mandlikova, for one, grew up behind the Iron Curtain, in the shadow of Martina Navratilova. And just as Tracy Austin assumed the lofty position once held by Chris Evert Lloyd, Mandlikova may be heading for the same No. 1 status achieved by her former neighbor.
The 18-year-old daughter of former Czechoslovakian Olympic sprinter Vilem Mandlik showed such signs yesterday with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Bettina Bunge in the Volvo Women’s Tennis Cup.
That shot Mandlikova into today’s quarterfinals at Ramapo College against Dianne Fromholtz, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over fellow Australian Sue Saliba.
Comparisons often are made between Mandlikova and Navratilova, who defected to the United States five years ago and is due to gain American citizenship in October. A member of the Sparta Club in Prague, where Navratilova once played, Mandlikova has been dubbed “Little Martina” even though her game more closely resembles that of the woman after whom she patterned it, Billie Jean King.
King has won more Wimbledon titles than any other woman, and capturing the women’s singles crown at that tournament is Mandlikova‘s chief goal. She made the round of 16 in London the past two years, and nearly upset eventual champ Evonne Goolagong this time, leading at one point, 7-6, 3-1, 40-15, before faltering.
The season has been a series of near misses for Mandlikova, who suffered semifinal losses to Lloyd in the Italian, the French, and the Canadian Opens.” In each match, Mandlikova won the first set.
Loss of concentration was blamed for the setbacks.
Her concentration wavered slightly yesterday against Bunge, but Mandlikova came back strong from a 1-3 deficit in the second set to win the next five games for the match.
“I played good backhands cross court, and I made the big points,” she said. “I wasn’t sure I would be able to play that well because I played a doubles. match until late last Wednesday night, and my ankle was sore when I woke up this yesterday morning.”
Mandlikova, who wears a bright red Western-style bandanna on court, expected a closer match with Bunge. “Our matches have always been tight,” Mandlikova said. “She can play a lot better.”
Bunge, another teen-ager with an International background, agreed. “In our past matches, we didn’t have to worry about the wind.” Referring to the blustery conditions, Bunge said, “You’d have to hit the ball hard on one side, then let up on the other. It was frustrating. But Hana played very well. She came up with some great serves, and I made a lot of dumb mistakes.”
Bunge, a German citizen born in Switzerland, lived in Peru for 13 years before her family finally settled in Coral Gables, Fla. She currently plays for West Germany’s Federation Cup team but travels on a U.S. visa.
“Another difference in the match is Hana‘s experience,” Bunge said. “She’s won good matches and played well in some very big matches. That gives her more confidence. She’s a much more confident player.”
Coached by Dutch pro Betty Stove, Mandlikova, who upended Fromholtz in the Australian Open last December, now wants to take that confidence against Austin, Navratilova, Evert-Lloyd, and Goolagong, the four top players she has yet to beat.
She’s quietly working her way up the rankings and wants to keep It that way. In just two years, she has gone from 72nd on the Women’s Tennis Association computer list to No. 9, but reaching No. 1 isn’t on her immediate concern, “No, no,” she says now. “My time will come.”
QF VS DIANNE FROMHOLTZ
Fifth-seeded Hana Mandlikova, 18, of Czechoslovakia, defeated fourth-seeded Dianne Fromholtz of Australia 6-3, 7-5, to move into the semifinals opposite Navratilova.
Mandlikova reeled off the final four game of the first set after Fromholtz held a 3-2 lead.
“The second set was very difficult, but I started to concentrate better in the final games so that I wouldnt have to play a tie-breaker”, she said.
Fromholtz broke Mandlikova for a 5-4 lead before the Czech star, No.l ranked in her nation, won the next three games with the loss of only three points.
Hana Mandlikova needed only 75 minutes to eliminate Dianne Fromholtz.
SF VS MARTINA NAVRATILOVA
The 18-year-old Mandlikova will meet 15-year-old Andrea Jaeger of Lincolnshire, III. in today’s final. Jaeger beat Sylvia Hanika of West Germany 6-2, 6-3 in the other semifinal.
“I am most happy,” said Mandlikova, who learned her tennis at the Sparta Club In Prague, where Navratilova also was a student. In their only previous meeting Navratilova won a close three-set match.
Mandlikova followed Jaeger‘s big quarterfinal upset of top-seed Tracy Austin by knocking off No. 2 seed Martina Navratilova, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, before 4,372 fans Saturday night.
The two Czech-born players treated the crowd of 4,372 persons to a dazzling display of serve-and-volley shotmaking.
Mandlikova defeated Jaeger, 6-0, 6-3, in their only prior meeting, last April, but Jaeger said she anticipated an advantage in the championship because Mandlikova was not used to her baseline game.
Navratilova, ranked second in the world and this year’s leading money winner, had no trouble adapting to Mandlikova‘s game. Before Navratilova left Czechoslovakia, she attended the same tennis school in Prague as Mandlikova, and both play the same, attacking, power game. That was the story of their two-hour semifinal power tennis.
Mandlikova, seeded fifth, shunned the opportunity to lob over Navrati-lova’s charges to the net. Instead, she drove passing shots down the lines and cross court with consistent success. Mandlikova also attacked at every opportunity and put her first serve in play more often than Navratilova.
Navratilova opened the match with a service break, but in a signal of things to come Mandlikova countered with her own breakin game two.
Mandlikova broke serve twice more, including the last game of the set, while Navratilova broke through only one more time.
The eighth game was the pivotal one in that set. Anyone filming that game could rerun it as a clinic aid. Of the 14 points played, 12 were winners. Navratilova was serving 4-3, 40-15. The game went to deuce four times with Navratilova facing three break points before Mandlikova finally achieved the break with a backhand passing shot to tie the match.
After holding to go up, 5-4, Mandlikova took the first set by breaking Navratilova with another backhand winner down the line.
Each held serve once in the second set, then traded breaks. But Mandlikova could not hold her serve the rest of the set. Navratilova, though frustrated with herself and some line calls at times, appeared ready to continue Mandlikova‘s history of winning a first set, but losing the match.
The key to Mandlikova‘s upset, and her renewed confidence in the third set, was a service break in the 20-point first game. Mandlikova was at game point five times before putting it away. Mandlikova earned the break when Navratilova netted a backhand volley. From there she cruised to a 4-0 lead.
Navratilova created suspense by taking three straight games but Mandlikova held serve in the ninth game to clinch the biggest victory of her career.
“I try to concentrate, but it’s not always possible for me against players like Chris and Tracy Austin,” she said about previous lack of concentration. “They don’t give you much of a chance to come in. The way Martina plays, there is much more of a chance for her to miss a shot.”
“She’s always been my idol,” Mandlikova said of Navratilova. Neither woman said their was a strong rivalry between them. It was only their second meeting as pros. Navratilova won the first meeting, in three sets, in April.
“The over-all level of plav was pretty high,” she said. ‘Most of the shots were winners or forced errors.” Navratilova said.
In their only other match before last night, Navratilova won. Again, Mandlikova won the opening set before falling, 5-7,6-3,6-2.
“It’s hard to compare them,” Navratilova said of their matches. “The other one was on clay and in the day instead of on cement at night. She’s a sound player. She has all the shots. We’re similar somewhat in that we have the same style. The only difference is that she’s right-handed.”
FINAL VS ANDREA JAEGER
Yesterday’s attendance was a tournament record for one session (4,960), and the tournament total of 46,329 shattered last year’s 28,777 figure.
An upset over Martina Navratilova in the semifinals Saturday night showed that Mandlikova could overcome those lapses in concentration, and yesterday she went one step further by showing what she could do after losing the first set of a match. The result was a 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Andrea Jaeger for the $20,000 top prize and a running start in the U.S. Open, which begins tomorrow.
“I’m a little tired right now,” Mandlikova said. “I’ll need a day of rest.”
A day of rest is what she earned after disposing of Jaeger in a battle of promising teen-agers. The setting was perfect for Jaeger to win her most important tournament as a pro, but Mandlikova proved that “Thank Heaven for Little Girls,” the Lerner and Loewe song played as an introduction for Jaeger, served her just as well.
Despite her stunning performance against Navratilova the night before, Mandlikova was expected to struggle yesterday against her 15-year-old opponent. It’s clear by now that Mandlikova‘s breaks in concentration are due to impatience.
Serve-and-volley players like Navratilova keep Mandlikova alert. Baseline huggers like Jaeger, Evert-Lloyd, and Tracy Austin send her into clouds of uncertainty. “I have to work a little harder against a baseline player,” she said. “I tried to be more patient in the second set. I knew I had to win the first two games.”
She did even better than that. She won the first four, fighting off three break points in the fourth game with the aid of three of her six aces in the match.
“That’s the difference between Hana and other players,” Jaeger said. “She’ll go for the ace when she’s at deuce. Others will play it safe with a first serve. Not Hana.”
“I was feeling pretty good at that point,” Mandlikova said. “I was very confident. I wanted to go for it.”
Mandlikova‘s confidence actually was constructed in the first set when she was down 1-5, fought off two set points, and won the next five games to change the complexion of the match.
She had Jaeger on the ropes at that point, but couldn’t apply the knockout punch as Jaeger held service at love to force a tiebreaker in which she took all seven points.
“I missed some very easy shots,” Mandlikova said. “I played dumb.” But not for long.
Roland Jaeger, Andrea’s father, said the outcome of the match would be determined by how consistently Mandlikova could land first serves. Her percentage seemed to improve with each game as she held service 11 straight times after being broken in the fifth game of the opening set.
“I was still a little stiff after playing Martina last Saturday night,” she said. “I didn’t feel completely fit until the second set.”
Mandlikova‘s only weakness early in the match was an inability to score with her backhand, which Jaeger successfully served into to build the 5-1 margin. Mandlikova netted most of her backhand returns until she recovered her strength in the second set.
A key game in the final set was the sixth when Jaeger, upset with several calls by the service judge, lost her composure over two calls. At 3-2, 40-30, Mandlikova double-faulted for deuce, then hit abackhand winner down the line that Jaeger thought was wide. Had it been called that way, Jaeger would have had a break point. She flung her hands in the air to no avail. Jaeger then claimed that Mandlikova‘s next serve was a let. Mandlikova thought so, too. Chair umpire Lee Jackson finally confirmed the call to Jaeger‘s satisfaction. Putting in another first serve, Mandlikova won the crucial set with an overhead slam that helped to preempt another rerun of “The Twilight Zone.”
In their only previous meeting, Mandlikova defeated Jaeger, 6-0, 6-3, last April in Hilton Head, S.C. The tournament triumph was the first of the year for Mandlikova, who won five titles in 1979. Mandlikova‘s effort was rewarded with a $20,000 check, a $14,000 Volvo CLE sedan, a $7,600 gold watch and a $5,400 fur stole.
Article compiled from : The News, The Ridgewood News, The Record, The Herald News, AP, UPI