CONNORS ADVANCES TO SEMIS.Byline: Gerry Gittelson Daily News Staff Writer Jimmy Connors James Scott "Jimmy" Connors (born September 2, 1952 in East St. Louis, Illinois) is a former World Number 1 American tennis champion who was the top player for 160 consecutive weeks from July of 1974 to August of 1977. smiled, joked with the crowd, even kidded the ball boys. But he was all business when the action started, sweeping trick-shot artist Mansour Bahrami Mansour Bahrami (Persian: منصور بهرامی, born April 26, 1956 in Arak, Iran) is an Iranian professional tennis player. 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals of the Coopers and Lybrand Champions tournament Saturday at Riviera Country Club The Riviera Country Club is a country club with a championship golf course. It is located in Pacific Palisades, California, within the city limits of Los Angeles, California. The country club opened in 1926, with George C. Thomas, Jr. as the course architect. in Pacific Palisades Palisades, cliffs along the west bank of the Hudson River, NE N.J. and SE N.Y., extending from N of Jersey City, N.J., to the vicinity of Piermont, N.Y., with a general altitude of from 350 ft to 550 ft (107–168 m). . The tournament for former tennis stars 35 years and older has a total purse of $150,000. It concludes Monday. Top-seed Connors faces John Lloyd John Lloyd may refer to:
``I'm here to play tennis, but I'm also here to have fun,'' Connors said. ``I like playing Bahrami because he comes up with a lot of crazy shots. Still, my main concern was to play my kind of tennis.'' Bahrami used a variety of spin shots and finesse lobs, making Connors run hard on most points, but Connors - whose quickness neutralized Bahrami's drop-shot strategy - was up to the task, usually emerging the winner on the longer, crowd-pleasing rallies. ``I won some points, but he was just too fast,'' Bahrami said. ``I don't like playing him - I'd rather play someone slower. Against me, if you can catch the ball and make it to the net, you have a good chance.'' During breaks in the action, both players often bent at the waist, trying to catch their breath as the near-capacity crowd cheered with appreciation. Connors should be the strong favorite against Lloyd. The five-time U.S. Open winner has beaten Lloyd 10 out of 11 times. Andres Gomez also advanced with a tiebreaker tie·break·er n. An additional contest or period of play designed to establish a winner among tied contestants. Also called tiebreak. tie win over Tim Wilkison. Gomez will meet Johan Kriek, a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Yannick Noah in the other quarterfinal. After spotting Wilkison the first set 6-3, Gomez took the second 6-4 and won the tiebreaker 10-6. Gomez said the key to his comeback was switching rackets rackets Game for two or four players with ball and racket on a four-walled court. Rackets is played with a hard ball in a relatively large court (approximately 9 × 18 m), unlike the related games of squash and racquetball. . ``I was playing loose,'' Gomez said, ``so I switched to a tighter racket, about two pounds tighter. That made a big difference.'' Gomez's style - baseline passing shots - was tailor-made for Wilkison, whose net-charging attack stopped working after the first set. ``I played well, but winning the first set was more a matter of him playing bad,'' Wilkison said. ``I played my game, but that just wasn't good enough against Gomez. I've never beaten him.'' Not that Wilkison didn't have a chance. He outpointed Gomez 4-3 in the tiebreaker but ran out of gas as the winner took seven of the last nine. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Jimmy Connors fires a backhand to Mansour Bahrami at the Coopers & Lybrand Champions tournament. Tom Mendoza / Daily News |
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