1.
GV Diobs (furthest from camera) playing Orantes and after rally wins point
0.43

2.
GV Crowd applauding
0.46

3.
GV Orantes serves after rally Dibbs returns heavy top spin lob to win game, set and match


4.
GV Borg serving to Panatta and after rally Panatta wins point
1.30

5.
GV Game in progress and after rally Panatta wins point, game, st and match
2.08



Initials BB/2046


SPORT: TENNIS

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In the quarter finals of the men's singles in the French Tennis Championships in Paris on Wednesday (9 June), Eddie Dibbs of the United States, met Manuel Orantes of Spain, and Sweden's Bjorn Borg was up against the new Italian star, Adriano Panatta.

SYNOPSIS: Dibbs, furthest from the camera, last beat Orantes int he West German final, and in Paris he was in the same good form. Orantes was runner-up in these championships in 1974, and again last year. But recently Dibbs has proved to be one of his strongest opponents. Once again he proved troublesome to the older man, dominating the ne??? more than he usually does. He seemed to be trying to prove that Orantes was vulnerable to intimidation.

Dibbs took the first and third sets, six-three, six-three.

Orantes had taken the second set three-six, but in the fourth he again fund himself in trouble against the sturdy, swaggering America. Dibbs cultivates the image of being a tough guy -- the Marciano of tennis -- and in this match he certainly over-awed the Spaniard, taking the final set and match, six-three.

The second quarter final brought two of the games youngest heart-throbs together. The tall,dark Italian, Adriano Panatta, is already being talked of as probably one of the most complete tennis players of modern times. But the long-haired Borg, though equally young, is already a veteran of top-class tennis.

The match produced some fine play, with Panatta demonstrating some lively acrobatics at the net, and exhibiting a remarkable capacity for saving match points. The Italian took the first two sets, six-three, six-three. His nimble footwork always enabled him to be in position for perfectly balanced returns.

Though Borg won the third, two-six, Panatta regained his dominance in the fourth set and won the tie-break for the match.