From: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin)
Subject: Lots 'o tennis (spoilers)
Reply-To: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles C. Lin)
Organization: College of Engineering, Maryversity of Uniland, College Park
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 21:00:47 GMT

   The weekend had lots of tennis on tv in the USA.   The Hamlet Cup
(held in Commack which is on Long Island near New York City) finished
up today.   The OTB Championships were held in Schenectady, New York.
There was a Mazda Championships for women.  Also, there was the
Arthur Ashe tournament for AIDS, which is a charity event held
at the US Open site.

   Let me start with the Hammlet Cup which was covered by Prime
Network in the US.   The semifinals paired Stefan Edberg and
Petr Korda in one semifinal and the third consecutive week
that Ivan Lendl has played Michael Chang.   In an upset of
sorts, Korda beat Edberg 7-5, 7-5.   

   As you may know, Korda is one player I like to watch.  Perhaps
next to Agassi, Korda owns one of the most lethal forehands in
the game.  He can whip wide angle shots crosscourt or inside
out.   This match started with Korda getting to a 4-1 lead
(I think), but Edberg managing to tie it a 5 apiece.  Korda
then held, and broke Edberg for the set.   At first when
Edberg caught up, I thought Korda might be losing his concentration.
However, this proved not to be the case.  Instead, it seemed
Edberg was a bit flustered at some of the shots landing
in from Korda.   It seemed more like a match on clay, with
Korda passing Edberg more often than Stefan cares, which
forced Edberg to play a few points in the backcourt and
put Edberg at a disadvantage.

    In the other side, Lendl faced Chang for the third conseutive
week.  He beat him in Cincinatti in a decisive vicotry, played
him somewhat close in the Volvo last week, and again cruised
to a victory, 6-2, 6-3, this week.   The key appeared to be
that Lendl still hits harder than Chang, and that Chang made
more unforced errors than usual.  It was almost a replay of
last week's match where Chang made uncharacteristic errors.
He tried to mix things up by serving harder (serves up to 118
miles per hour or so) but coulnd't get enough of those
in to bother Lendl.  In addition, just like last week, something
bothering Lendl (last week a line call, this week some 
spectators in the stand) seemed to rattle Chang's concentration.

     I thought the commentary of MacKay and Mayotte left
a little to be desired.  MacKay kept repeating that Korda
had upset Edberg throughout the match between Chang and Lendl.
Mayotte just repeated what could be seen in replays (Lendl
hits a slashing backhand, etc.).   They also cliamed
that Lendl and Chang would stay back a lot (which is true, but
it made them sounds like overly defensive players, and neither
really are).

      I could only watch one set of the Lendl-Korda match which
I thought Lendl might have a decent chance of winning.  Still,
in the only previous meeting (Stockholm '91), Korda won in three
sets.  Meanwhile, I tried to go home to watch the match (I was
somewhere else the first set), where the cable was out, tried to
go back, and found the match was over.  What I saw in the first
set was probably indicative of the match.  Namely, Korda just
overwhelming Lendl with his groundstrokes.  He hit for winners
and Lendl had a hard time dealing with Korda's power.  Korda
won easily 6-2, 6-2, and while Lendl has been playing well,
reaching three finals and a semi in recent weeks, it's hard to
count him as a favorite since he has lost to four different
players in those occasions (Edberg, Agassi, Sampras, Korda).

    More later.....

--
Charles Lin
clin@eng.umd.edu