International Players Tennis : Lendl Fights Off Annacone in Five Sets

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. —  Top-seeded Ivan Lendl came from behind to wear down Paul Annacone, 5-7, 7-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, in 3 hours 46 minutes Friday.

Raising the level of his play in the final two sets, Lendl advanced to the third round of the $1.8-million International Players Championships.

A strong believer in off-court conditioning, Lendl credited his comeback to his physical stamina.

“I won it only because I was able to physically play the same in the fifth set as I did in the first set,” he said. “He was getting tired.”

Annacone, however, said he didn’t tire in the last two sets. Lendl won, he said, not because of better conditioning but because the top-seeded player played better after falling behind.

“He knows he’s going to be in there fighting point after point after point,” Annacone said. “That’s why he’s No. 1. He’s able to persevere.”

Annacone, ranked 46th in the world, broke Lendl’s serve five times in the first three sets but was unable to do it again.

Lendl and Annacone struggled for 3 hours 3 minutes longer than it took Martina Navratilova to defeat her third-round opponent, Halle Cioffi, 6-1, 6-0.

“Today was the first chance I had to get warmed up before a match all week, and as a result, I was sharper than in my first few matches,” said the top-seeded Navratilova, who plays No. 10-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina next.

Sabatini beat Peru’s Laura Gildemeister, 6-1, 6-2, while No. 8-seeded Kathy Rinaldi was upset by France’s Nathalie Tauziat, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, and Kathrin Keil surprised No. 16 Robin White, 0-6, 7-6, 6-3.

Mary Joe Fernandez, 15, who stunned No. 5-seeded Pam Shriver Thursday, romped past 16-year-old Susan Sloane, 6-1, 6-1.

In featured night matches, No. 3-seeded Steffi Graf of West Germany defeated Britain’s Sarah Gomer, 6-1, 6-0, and No. 6-seeded Jimmy Connors, who entered this tournament to test a knee he injured two weeks ago in Memphis, Tenn., downed Sweden’s Peter Lundgren, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.