INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- It had been four years since Mima Jausovec had won a tournament on the women's pro tour and after easily defeating sentimental favorite Billie Jean King in the semifinals she wasn't about to let the title escape.
Jausovec, the No. 5 seed from Maribor, Yugoslavia, used steady ground strokes Sunday to score a 6-2, 7-6 victory over No. 3 seed Sylvia Hanika of West Germany and win a $150,000 women's tennis tournament.
The tournament was sponsored by Avon.
Jausovec, 25, a 5-foot-3 bundle of steadiness throughout the championship match, refused to allow the 22-year-old Hanika to get into her normal aggressive rhythm in winning her first tournament since the 1978 German Open, her first title of the series and the first series championship match between two Europeans.
Jausovec advanced to the finals with a convincing 6-4, 6-2 victory over King in the semifinals Saturday night. As she did against Hanika, Jausovec used used drop shots and precise placement to win that match.
Hanika, a left-hander from Ottendichl, West Germany, advanced to the championship match with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Leslie Allen of New York City.
'I tried to keep the ball low so Sylvia wouldn't have time to get set with that big swing of hers,' Jausovec said. 'I guess I succeeded. I was coasting along in the first set and then when I fell behind in the second I thought I should start attacking, so I changed my style a little.'
Hanika said two bad calls from the linesman in the second set, which Jausovec won in the tie-breaker by a 7-4 score, affected her concentration.
'They came almost back-to-back in the second set,' she said. 'They upset me. But Mima just didn't let me come to the net as often as I usually do.'
Jausovec earned $30,000 for the win while Hanika earned $15,000.
In the doubles final, the top-seeded team of Kathy Jordan and Anne Smith defeated the No. 3 team of Sharon Walsh and Barbara Potter, 6-3, 7-5. The winners split $11,000 while the losers divided $5,500.
