Tennis Roundup : Evert Rallies to Beat Navratilova at Houston

Third-seeded Chris Evert, two points away from defeat, rebounded for a 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 victory over top-seeded Martina Navratilova Sunday in the final of a $150,000 Virginia Slims tournament at Houston.

The victory on the clay court at the Lakeside Racquet and Athletic Club was Evert’s 34th win in 71 meetings against Navratilova, but her first over the world’s No. 1-ranked player since the final of the 1986 French Open.

After breaking Evert’s service for a 5-4 lead in the third set, Navratilova took a 30-15 lead in the 10th game and was two points from winning the match. But she hit two backhands into the net and a third shot wide, allowing Evert to tie the set, 5-5.

After hitting her second shot into the net, Navratilova screamed: “Oh God, you choked.”

Both players held service to force a tiebreaker. On the seventh point of the tiebreaker, Evert broke Navratilova’s serve for a 4-3 edge when her lob barely cleared Navratilova’s outstretched racket.

Navratilova held off one match point at 6-3, passing Evert with a backhand down the line. But, with Navratilova pinned at the base line, Evert hit a drop volley and then hit a winner off Navratilova’s weak return for the match.

“When I was down a break in the third with Martina serving and leading 30-love, I thought my chances were slim,” Evert said. “That’s when she usually puts her opponents away.

“I was pleased with the way I hung in there. I was a little surprised she didn’t close it out when she had the chance.”

Said Navratilova: “This is pretty disappointing. Two points away from winning, and I can’t come through. I hit a good serve at 30-15 and she did not hit a very strong return, but the ball hit a dry spot and took a bad bounce and I hit it into the net.”

At Monaco, Mats Wilander defeated Jimmy Arias, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-3, to win the $513,000 Monte Carlo Open, the year’s first major clay court tournament.

The 22-year-old Swede’s victory overshadowed a fine effort by Arias, who knocked two-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker out of the tournament in the second round and advanced to his first final since 1985.

The unseeded American, who has not won a tournament since 1983, was once ranked as high as No. 5 in the world but hit the skids and dropped to his current ranking of 53rd.

Sunday, it looked as though he would put his long drought to a end as he broke Wilander in the first game and made that lead hold up the remainder of the first set.

In the second set, Arias’ game suddenly went awry. His forehand, so devastating in the first set, started landing wide and long.

“I lost it mentally,” Arias said. “All of a sudden, I started missing.”

Still, Arias came from behind in the second set to tie it at 5-5 before Wilander took the next two games.