People

By Jamie Murphy

The game was tennis, but the final score was Czechmate. No two Europeans had ever won the U.S. Open singles championships in the same year. But last week Czechoslovakia's Ivan Lendl, 25, and Hana Mandlikova, 23, hoisted the silver high after overcoming a shared reputation as temperamental talents who tend to choke in major matches. This time, despite a couple of 90 degrees -plus afternoons, they showed no signs of wilting against the best players in the U.S. Mandlikova outpowered Chris Evert Lloyd, 30, in the semis (4-6, 6-3, 6-3), then in the finals wrested the title away from Martina Navratilova, 28 (7-6, 1-6, 7-6), herself born Czech but a U.S. citizen since 1981. In his semifinal match, Lendl ousted Jimmy Connors, 33 (6-2, 6-3, 7-5), then carved up John McEnroe, 26 (7-6, 6-3, 6-4). The check for each winner: $187,500.