Tennis: Lendl goes back to his old routine

IVAN LENDL recaptured some of the style that made him the world No 1 for a record 269 weeks in the 1980s, when he beat Petr Korda, 1-6, 6-2, 6-0, to reach the semi-finals of the Nice Open yesterday.

Lendl, 33 last month and now ranked No 8, recorded his first victory over Korda in four meetings. It was the first time they had met on clay, the surface on which Lendl won three French Open titles.

Lendl's win was achieved by staying back and hitting winners from the baseline. 'I was just playing my own game,' he said. 'He missed a few shots and I started playing deeper.' Korda, No 5 in the rankings, romped through the first set but blamed the loss of the next two sets on a change of tactics.

Marc Gollner, a qualifier from Germany, caused a surprise with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Guillermo Perez-Roldan, of Argentina. His reward is a meeting with Stefan Edberg, the top seed.