Tennis Roundup : Lendl Will Play Cash in Semifinals

Top-seeded Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia beat Tim Mayotte, 6-3, 6-3, Friday in the $923,000 European Community Championship of Tennis at Antwerp, Belgium, setting up a meeting with Wimbledon champion Pat Cash of Australia.

Lendl, ranked No. 1 in the world, lost to Cash in the Wimbledon final last July.

Cash defeated Wojtek Fibak of Poland, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, in another quarterfinal match Friday.

Third-seeded Miloslav Mecir also advanced, downing sixth-seeded John McEnroe, 7-5, 6-3. Mecir lost to McEnroe in last year’s final.

Mecir will play second-seeded Mats Wilander of Sweden, who eliminated Brad Gilbert, 6-2, 6-4.

Lendl, who has won the ECC event three times since it began in 1982, won in 75 minutes over Mayotte, who collected $50,000.

“I think I didn’t do much wrong out there,” said Mayotte, who is ranked 12th in the world. “He (Lendl) was solid as ever. He had an unbelievable forehand and put the ball back from tough positions. He is a great athlete . . . (He) is good for tennis. He takes it to new heights.”

At Hong Kong, third-seeded Eliot Teltscher advanced to the semifinals in the $200,000 Seiko Super tournament, beating Rick Leach, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Teltscher will meet Australia’s Darren Cahill, who ousted John Ross, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

In other matches, John Fitzgerald of Australia struggled to defeat Christian Saceanu of West Germany, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, and Jeremy Bates of Britain beat Tom Nijssen of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-4.

Top-seeded Steffi Graf of West Germany never allowed a break point in defeating Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria, 6-2, 6-3, in the quarterfinals of the $150,000 European Women’s Indoor Championship at Zurich, Switzerland.

Graf will face Katerina’s sister, Manuela, in a semifinal match today. Third-seeded Manuela defeated Raffaella Reggi of Italy, 6-2, 6-4.

In other matches, second-seeded Hana Mandlikova overpowered Judith Wiesner of Austria, 6-4, 7-5, and Nathalie Tauziat of France edged Christina Singer of West Germany, 7-5, 6-4.

Gigi Fernandez and Robin White defeated Sara Gomer and Clare Wood of Britain, 6-1, 7-5, at Williamsburg, Va., as the United States clinched its ninth straight victory in the Wightman Cup with a 4-0 lead.

Pam Shriver posted a 6-1, 7-5 win over Britain’s Jo Durie earlier in singles. The competition winds up with three matches today.