McEnroe Wins His Opening Match in Delray Beach By STEVE DORSEY

from yellowtennisball.com
Venerable fan favorite John McEnroe and South Florida resident Aaron Krickstein each posted straight-set victories Saturday night at the ATP Champions Tour at the Delray Beach Stadium and Tennis Center.

McEnroe defeated late entry Jay Berger, another South Florida resident, 6-3, 6-3 in the nightcap of the second day of the eight-player tournament that is part of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships pro tour event. Berger was an 11th-hour substitution for Jimmy Arias, who had to withdraw from the tournament because of a strained hamstring injury he sustained in his first match Friday night.

Berger, who now coaches and lives in Key Biscayne about an hour south of Delray Beach, was asked Friday night to be on standby to replace Arias. Tournament officials called him late Saturday afternoon when Arias deemed he was not healthy enough to play.

McEnroe broke Berger’s serve to take a 4-3 lead in the second set, then easily won his serve and broke Berger again to clinch the match. After the match, McEnroe saluted Berger for his effort.

“I was surprised to be playing Jay, but he played really well,” McEnroe said. “It’s probably at least 20 or 25 years since I last played Jay. I know the way he plays though, and I’ve hit a few with him over the years and I’ve seen him work with the young USTA kids. So I know he hits a good ball, and he did. He was playing well and I was taken a little off guard to start with, but at the end I started placing my serve better and that made the difference.”

McEnroe next faces Todd Martin in Sunday’s final match, scheduled to begin not before 7:30 p.m.

“It’s going to be rough against Todd tomorrow, obviously,” McEnroe said. “This court jumps up high, so that’ll help him with his big serve. So I’ll need to serve well and win some easy points if I’m going to be successful against him.”

McEnroe, as is the case at most venues where the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion competes, seems to feed off the energy of the fans who come to watch his matches.

“It’s nice here. The crowd was great. People seem to love tennis and there’s some good energy here,” said McEnroe, who was runner-up to Patrick Rafter here last year. “I’ve had to make a bit of an adjustment because I’ve been playing indoors alot, but hopefully I’ll get better with each match. I feel like it’s set up for me pretty good though. The court’s a little slower than I’ve been practicing on, so I think I’ll get better each day.”

Krickstein, who lives in nearby Boca Raton, won the first match of the evening session Saturday with a closely contested 7-5, 6-4 victory over Martin, who defeated Arias in straight sets Friday.

Martin appeared poised to possibly win the second set when he won the eighth game to tie the set at 4-all after losing the longest contested point of the match. Krickstein was able to return a couple of overhead shots from Martin and won the point with a crafty cross-court backhand that drew a well-deserved applause from the fans. However, Martin battled back from down 30-15 to win the game and tie the set.

That point might have winded him some, however, as Krickstein then easily won his serve to take a 5-4 lead and broke Martin’s service to take the set and the match. As Martin approached the baseline to serve on match point, a fan shouted encouragement to the inaugural ITC champion (1993). Martin responded with a quip that ignited laughter from the crowd.

“It’s a little late, guy, come on,” Martin said, and then proceeded to double-fault on his serve to end the match.

Krickstein, who will face Berger at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, started off slowly but gained confidence in his serve as the match progressed.

“At the beginning, I didn’t feel too well. I didn’t have any rhythm with my serve,” Krickstein said. “I hit a few good shots at the right time. I still feel I move pretty well on the court.”

Australians Pat Cash and Mark Philippoussis were the other Champions Tour winners earlier Saturday.

Philippoussis was not especially pleased with the way he played in his loss Friday night to Cash. Actually, he said he very upset with himself. But Saturday was another day, and Philippoussis was in a much better mood after he defeated Mats Wilander 6-4, 6-3 to even his record in pool play.

“Today I went out and worked on the things I wasn’t doing well (Friday night),”
the Australian said Saturday. “Last night, I was very frustrated with the way I played.”

Philippoussis obviously put Friday behind him in his match against Wilander, who was playing his first match of the round-robin format, the second year the Champions Tour event has been combined with the ATP’s Delray Beach ITC.

“I felt like I took a step back last night, but took three steps forward today,” said Philippoussis, a two-time Grand Slam runner-up who last year ended a nearly four-year hiatus from playing in professional tournaments.

Up next Sunday afternoon for Philippoussis is a match against Swede Mikael Pernfors, who fell to Cash won 3-6, 6-3 (10-6) on Saturday.

Cash said after the match that he has played only two matches in the past two months and he wanted to conserve some energy for the tiebreaker set after falling behind in the second set against Pernfors.

“I might be old and ugly, but I’m wise,” said the 45-year-old Cash, who in 1983 was the youngest player to play in a Davis Cup final when he helped the Aussies win the prestigious Cup. “Things can turn around quickly in a match, and it was a hot day. But luckily, I was serving well.”

Pernfors, a member of the 1986 finalist Swedish Davis Cup team, played well in the second set but could not maintain the change in momentum in the tiebreaker.

“I really played poorly in the first set, and I got off to a bad start in the tiebreaker,” said Pernfors, who was the 1986 French Open runner-up to Ivan Lendl. “I lost, but I had a good time, and that’s what it’s all about. I’ve got two more matches, so hopefully, I’ll play better in those.”

Cash will face Mats Wilander at 1 p.m. Sunday in the next round of the Champions Tour tournament, followed by the match between Pernfors and Philippoussis.

In Saturday’s ITC qualifying matches, six Americans remained alive for the last four spots in the main draw, which includes top seed Andy Roddick and No. 2 seed Mardy Fish.

Jack Sock, the 2010 U. S. Open Juniors champion and who many believe might have a bright future, was among the American winners Saturday with a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Austrian Alexander Peya. Rajeev Ram also won in straight sets, eliminating fellow American Eric Hechtman 7-5, 6-2, and Bobby Reynolds of the U. S. took down Italian Stefano Ianni 6-4, 6-1.

Americans Donald Young, Ryan Sweeting and Alex Kuznetsov also advanced to the next rounds of qualies. Young advanced when Russian Fritz Wolmarans retired down 1-0 in the second set after Young won the opening set 6-3. Sweeting needed three sets to oust fellow American Alex Bogomolov Jr. 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, and Kuznetsov beat Izak Van Der Merwe of Russian 6-4, 6-4.

Saturday’s other winners in the qualifying matches were Aussie Marinko Matosevic, who needed three sets to eliminate Raven Klaasen of South Africa 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-3; Canadian Frank Dancevic, who toppled American Michael McClune7-6(3), 6-3; Russian Igor Kunitsyn, who beat American Tim Smyczek 7-5, 4-6, 6-2; Lukas Lacko of Slovakia, who downed Australian Bernard Tomic 7-5, 6-3; Dominican Victor Estrella, who defeated American Jesse Witten 7-6(3), 6-4; Aussie Samuel Groth, who beat American Lester Cook 6-4, 6-3; Aussie Matthew Ebden, a 6-2, 6-3 winner against American Bjorn Fratangelo; Slovakia’s Blaz Kavcic, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Ecuador’s Giovanni Lapentti; Czech Jan Hajek, who beat Canadian Peter Polansky 7-6(6), 6-4; and Alejandro Falla, who was a 6-2, 6-4 winner against fellow Columbian Robert Farah.