Tennis Roundup : Maleeva Beats Lloyd and Will Take On Graf in Today’s Final
- Share via
Manuela Maleeva upset eight-time champion Chris Evert Lloyd, 6-1, 2-6, 7-6, Saturday to advance to the final of the $300,000 Family Circle Magazine Cup tennis tournament at Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Maleeva, 20, of Bulgaria, who is now 2-12 against Lloyd, will meet top-seeded Steffi Graf in today’s championship match.
Graf, 17, of West Germany, lost a 5-1 lead in the final set against fifth-seeded Gabriela Sabatini but held on to beat the 16-year-old Argentine, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6.
Maleeva, seeded sixth, was down, 4-2, in the third set against the second-seeded Lloyd but battled back to take a 6-5 lead. Lloyd, however, broke Maleeva’s serve, sending the 2-hour 38-minute match into a tiebreaker.
“Manuela played well, especially the first set,” said Lloyd, who has been bothered this week by the flu and an earache. “But I did feel the effects of my not feeling well in the third set. She had more energy than I did.
“I’ve not been 100%. If there was a difference in the match, then I would say 7-6 in the third set probably came down to that.”
John McEnroe will try for his fifth WCT Finals title today when he plays Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia in a morning match at Dallas.
Go beyond the scoreboard
Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
