Tennis Roundup : Becker Defeats Lendl to Win Australian Indoor Title

Boris Becker of West Germany recovered from a slow start to score a four-set victory over top-seeded Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia today in the final of the $345,000 Australian Indoor tennis tournament at Sydney.

The 18-year-old two-time Wimbledon champion, seeded second, took 2 hours 27 minutes to defeat the defending champion, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-0.

It was the teen-ager’s third victory in his last four meetings with Lendl, although Lendl still holds a 5-3 career advantage.

Becker, who won the second-set tiebreaker, 7-2, earned $55,000, Lendl $27,500.

In Saturday’s semifinals, Lendl beat Australia’s Pat Cash, 7-5, 6-2, while Becker downed unseeded Glenn Layendecker, 6-4, 6-4.

Martina Navratilova defeated Pam Shriver, 6-1, 7-6, to advance to the final of the $175,000 Porsche Grand Prix women’s tournament at Filderstadt, West Germany.

In today’s final, Navratilova, who celebrated her 30th birthday, will meet Czechoslovakia’s Hana Mandlikova, who routed Argentina’s Gabriela Sabatini, 6-2, 6-1.

Navratilova, the world’s No. 1-ranked women’s player, ousted Shriver, 24, in 82 minutes and afterward was presented with a seven-tiered birthday cake by tournament officials.

Navratilova shared the cake with some of the sellout crowd of 2,800.

Mandlikova, 24, outclassed the 16-year-old Sabatini in their second set, forcing the Argentine into weak defensive return shots that the Czech smashed home for easy points.

At Basel, Switzerland, top-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden beat third-seeded Brad Gilbert, 7-6, 6-2, and second-seeded Yannick Noah of France defeated unseeded Tomas Smid of Czechoslovakia, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1, in the semifinals of the $175,000 Swiss Indoor.

Edberg, 20, ranked fourth in the world, dominated the match as Gilbert lost points with temperamental play that sometimes turned erratic.

The defeat ended the American’s bid for a fourth Grand Prix victory this year. Gilbert’s right arm was bandaged due to an inflammation that he said was hindering his play.

In an aggressive game by both players, Noah kept Smid on the run in the first set with frequent rushes to the net. The 26-year-old Frenchman, ranked fifth in the world, seemed to have recovered from a seven-week layoff caused by a knee injury.

At Tokyo, Second-seeded Helen Kelesi of Canada beat Bettina Fulco of Argentina, 6-2, 6-2, to win the women’s title in the $195,000 Japan Asian Open.

Ramesh Krishnan of India and Johan Carlsson of Sweden meet in the men’s singles final today.

In the semifinals, Krishnan beat Kelly Jones, 6-0, 7-5, while Carlsson defeated Jaime Yzaga of Peru, 6-3, 6-0.