Tennis Roundup : Mandlikova Wins a Title; U.S. Wins in Davis Cup

Fourth-seeded Hana Mandlikova, fresh off her victory over Martina Navratilova, defeated Catarina Lindqvist, 6-3, 7-5, Saturday to win the $150,000 U.S. Women’s Indoor tennis championship at Princeton, N.J.

It was the second tournament victory of the year for Mandlikova, who beat Chris Evert Lloyd for the title at Oakland two weeks ago.

“I think my fighting spirit is much better than it was,” Mandlikova said. “If something doesn’t work, I don’t lose my head but I try my hardest.”

Mandlikova never appeared in jeopardy against her 21-year-old Swedish opponent. Lindqvist won the last time they met in January, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1. This time, however, Mandlikova was too powerful.

“I was thinking about the other match, but I knew that Hana was much stronger this time,” said Lindqvist, who is on the rise in women’s tennis, currently ranked No. 15 in the world after moving from No. 124 at the start of 1984.

Navratilova, though, won the doubles with Pam Shriver. They defeated Marcella Mesker and Elizabeth Sayers-Smylie, 7-5, 6-2. It was the 87th straight match victory and 19th consecutive title for the winners.

Ken Flach and Robert Seguso scored the doubles victory that clinched a United States’ first-round Davis Cup win over Japan by defeating Shigeyuki Nishio and Shunichi Sakamoto, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1, at Kyoto. The victory gave the United States a 3-0 lead and made today’s two singles matches meaningless.

The United States will play West Germany in the second round in August. The West Germans took a 3-0 lead over visiting Spain when Boris Becker and Andreas Maurer beat Sergio Casals and Emilio Sanchez, 4-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

Australia took a 2-1 lead at Split, Yugoslavia, when Pat Cash and John Fitzgerald beat Yugoslavs Slovodan Zivorinovic and Goran Prpic, 7-5, 10-12, 6-8, 6-4, 6-4, in a doubles match that lasted five hours.

Italy and the Soviet Union both stayed alive in the first round by winning their doubles matches. Italy trails India, 2-1, and Czechoslovakia leads the Soviet Union, 2-1.

In a match at Asuncion, Paraguay, the host country took a 2-0 lead over France when Francis Gonzalez and Victor Pecci won singles matches. Gonzalez beat Henri Leconte, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, and Pecci defeated Yannick Noah, 6-8, 15-13, 2-6, 8-6, 10-8.