Tennis Roundup : Connors Advances to Queen’s Club Final for Fifth Time

Jimmy Connors, playing on the same court where he won his first overseas title 15 years ago, reached the final of the Queen’s Club grass-court championships for the fifth time Saturday by beating Australian Pat Cash, 7-6, 6-4.

Connors, who has won a record 105 tournaments but not one since October, 1984, produced his best service returns to nullify Cash’s serve-and-volley game.

Connors’ opponent in the final of this Wimbledon tuneup in West London will be either defending champion Tim Mayotte or Boris Becker, who were halted by rain in the first set with Mayotte leading, 2-1, after breaking Becker’s serve in the opening game.

Their match will resume today, with the championship match put back to Monday.

The fifth-seeded Connors, 34, a three-time champion at Queen’s Club, outmaneuvered his Australian opponent despite giving away 12 years in age.

His service return was at its sharpest against Cash, who still had eight aces.

“He’s got five or six different types of serves but every time I touched the ball today, I felt I had a chance to return it,” Connors said.

“I’m enjoying myself, but I’m also taking my tennis seriously. I’m not under any strain.”

Cash, who eliminated second-seeded Stefan Edberg in the quarterfinals, had lost only one match on grass this year.

Connors made light of suggestions that he was the underdog against Cash.

“Underdog, overdog, I’m just an old dog,” he said.

Cash, who was seeded seventh, said Connors was just too good.

“He’s been at the top for 15 years and won so many tournaments, it’s amazing.

“He’s one of the greatest players ever. I’ve got enormous respect for him.”

At Birmingham, England, top-seeded Pam Shriver won two matches to gain the final of the rain-plagued Edgbaston Cup women’s championships.

After beating Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-0, 6-1, in the quarterfinals, the defending champion ousted Etsuko Inoue of Japan, 6-2, 6-4.

In today’s final, she will play Larissa Savchenko of the Soviet Union, who also had to play two matches because of rain delays. Savchenko beat Rosalyn Fairbank of South Africa, 7-5, 6-4, and then routed Eva Pfaff, 6-3, 6-0.

At Edinburgh, Scotland, Ivan Lendl and Anders Jarryd were tied at 2-2 in the semifinals of the Scottish grass-court championships when rain washed out play.

Lendl, Jarryd, Andres Gomez and Johan Kriek face the possibility of playing semifinal and final matches today.

The women’s final between Argentina’s Gabriela Sabatini and American Lisa Bonder will be played between the men’s matches.

Top-seeded Kent Carlsson of Sweden and third-seeded Emilio Sanchez of Spain advanced to the final of a $105,000 tournament at Bologna, Italy. Carlsson routed Paolo Cane of Italy, 6-1, 6-0, while Sanchez beat second-seeded Martin Jaite of Argentina, 6-3, 6-0.