Tennis Roundup : Brad Gilbert Upsets Edberg to Win the U.S. Indoor Title

Brad Gilbert played a guessing game and repeatedly came up with the right answer.

Gilbert, of Piedmont, Calif., upset second-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden, 7-5, 7-6, Sunday to win the $315,000 U.S. Indoor Championships at Memphis, Tenn.

The sixth-seeded Gilbert took home the first prize of $45,000.

“I was really guessing forehand throughout the match,” Gilbert said. “He started missing some first serves and I was getting a good crack at the ball.

“I started hitting forehand winners down the line in the second set and picked up on my serve. My confidence started picking up in the second set.”

Edberg was within two points of winning the first set in the 10th game, but Gilbert broke him in that game and again in the 12th game. Edberg broke Gilbert in the fifth game to go ahead, 3-2.

Gilbert served first in the tiebreaker and jumped off to a 2-0 lead. Edberg evened it at 2-2, but Gilbert won five of the next six points and the match.

Top-seeded Joakim Nystrom gave unheralded Milan Srejber of Czechoslovakia a 57-minute lesson to win the $145,500 North American Indoor Championships, 6-1, 6-4, at Toronto.

Nystrom, ranked 11th in the world, nullified Srejber’s best weapon by effectively returning the Czech’s bullet-like serves. The 6-foot-8 Srejber also had seven double faults.

Srejber, a tournament pro for only 1 1/2 years and participating in the main draw of his first Grand Prix event, earned $12,500--bettering his career earnings of $11,459. Nystrom received $25,000.

Third-seeded Caroline Kuhlman defeated fourth-seeded USC teammate Heliane Steden, 6-3, 6-1, in the women’s singles final of the National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships at Houston.

In the men’s final, unseeded Joey Blake of Arkansas upset defending champion and second-seeded Dan Goldie of Stanford, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6.