Tennis Roundup : Mayotte Finally Gets His Break, and He Beats Becker

Tim Mayotte had waited a year for his turn at Boris Becker.

It was Mayotte who had given the West German his stiffest test at Wimbledon last year when, only two games from defeat, Becker was on the verge of quitting in their fourth-round match.

Urged to continue by his coach, Gunther Bosch, Becker benefited from a long break while a trainer treated his injured ankle, and he went on to win in five sets.

Friday, Mayotte got another chance at Becker in the quarterfinals of the Queens Club tournament at London. He staved off match point in the second-set tiebreaker to win, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2.

Also winning quarterfinal matches were Jimmy Connors, Robert Seguso and Stefan Edberg.

Connors defeated Paul Annacone, 6-3, 6-4; Seguso downed India’s Ramesh Krishnan, 6-4, 7-6, and Edberg beat Tim Wilkison, 6-3, 6-3.

In today’s semifinals, it will be Connors against Seguso and Mayotte against Edberg.

Mayotte and Becker put on a marvelous display of grass-court tennis, with neither player losing his serve in the first two sets. Becker won the first-set tiebreaker, 7-4, while Mayotte took the second, 9-7.

Then, in the fourth game of the third set, Mayotte finally broke Becker’s serve, the first break of the match. He also broke Becker in the eighth game to close out the victory.

Later, Becker said he was bothered by a tendon ailment in the middle finger of his right hand, and he withdrew from the doubles.

Becker said he had the ailment during the Italian Open and again during practice at the French Open. In both instances, he said, the ailment lasted only one day.

At Edgbaston, England, top-seeded Pam Shriver advanced to the semifinals of the Dow Chemical women’s tournament with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Japan’s Etsuko Inoue.