Tennis Roundup : It’s Becker Against Connors Today

Top-seeded Boris Becker of West Germany got even with Tim Mayotte for last year’s defeat, beating the sixth-seeded player, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, Sunday to reach the final of the $300,000 Queen’s Club tennis tournament at London.

Becker will play Jimmy Connors in today’s championship match, set back 24 hours because of rain.

Connors, seeking his first tournament title since October 1984, beat Pat Cash of Australia, 7-6, 6-4, Saturday.

Becker, two-time Wimbledon champion, was given a severe test by Mayotte, who beat him in the quarterfinals last year on the way to winning this title.

The rematch was interrupted twice by rain, but the tennis got better after each resumption and reached a peak in the final set.

Despite being 10 places lower than Becker in the world rankings, Mayotte proved that, on grass, he is as dangerous an opponent as any of the leading players.

Saturday, Mayotte broke Becker in the first game of the match and was leading, 2-1 and deuce, on his serve when rain ended play.

When play resumed Sunday, Mayotte dominated most of the exchanges to run out the first set.

But in the second set, Becker was just finding his touch and was leading, 5-4, when rain forced a 40-minute delay.

Mayotte then held for 5-5, and the pressure mounted on Becker when, two games later, the set went to a tiebreaker.

But the 19-year-old West German responded.

On the fifth point of the tiebreaker, a reflex return by Becker off a hard smash so surprised Mayotte that he volleyed into the net.

Becker won the next two points on serve and moved to triple set-point. Mayotte saved two of them, but Becker squared the match on the third try.

With the score 2-2 in the final set, Mayotte suddenly lost his nerve and double-faulted. Then, serving at 3-5 to save the match, Mayotte could only watch as a Becker backhand clipped the top of the net and just went over, giving the West German match-point.

Mayotte saved it with a volley and won the game, but the same thing happened in the next game, this time on Becker’s serve. A lucky netcord took Becker to 40-30, and he won the match on his second match-point when Mayotte overhit a backhand.

“I did everything according to plan and executed it,” Mayotte said. “I am not disappointed in my performance. Last year, there were a couple of points in it my way; this year, there were a couple his way. That’s grass-court tennis.”

The men’s and women’s finals at Edinburgh, Scotland, were canceled because of rain, leaving no winners in a tournament beset by bad luck and foul weather.

Sweden’s Anders Jarryd was leading Ecuador’s Andres Gomez, 3-2, with a service break when rain struck. The women’s final between Lisa Bonder and Argentina’s Gabriela Sabatini was abandoned.

Earlier, Ivan Lendl had to withdraw because of the flu after his semifinal with Jarryd was halted at 2-2 because of rain. In the other semifinal, Gomez beat Johan Kriek, 6-3, 6-1.

At Birmingham, England, Pam Shriver defeated promising Soviet teen-ager Larissa Savchenko, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, to win the $100,000 Edgbaston Cup tournament for the fourth consecutive time.