Tennis Roundup : Edberg Defeats Becker, 6-4, 6-1, for ATP Title

Stefan Edberg used an impressive serve-and-volley game Sunday to defeat Boris Becker, 6-4, 6-1, and win the $375,000 Assn. of Tennis Professionals Championship at Mason, Ohio.

The second-seeded Edberg lost serve just once during the 1-hour 20-minute match. Edberg took advantage of Becker’s serving lapses to beat the third-seeded West German for the second time in as many weeks.

Edberg won, 6-2, 6-4, last week in the semifinals of the Canadian Open at Montreal to end a seven-match losing streak against Becker, who still has a 7-4 career edge against the Swede.

Edberg played nearly flawless tennis Sunday, serving strongly and coming to the net to frustrate Becker with precise volleys. He blunted Becker’s net attacks by blasting passing shots that drew applause from the crowd of 8,732.

Becker’s serve, the most important part of his game, deserted him in the first set. He had three aces but five double faults--three in the sixth game, when he used a pair of aces to hold serve. Four of the five games Becker served in that set went to deuce.

Edberg broke his serve in the third and fifth games to take a 4-1 lead. Becker broke him back at love-40 and survived a pair of set points in the ninth game to stay alive, trailing, 5-4. But Edberg took the next game at 40-love to wrap up the 49-minute set.

The pattern continued in the second set, when Becker went to a softer first serve.

But the tactic failed. Edberg broke Becker in the first game, which went to deuce after the West German trailed at love-40. Edberg held serve, giving up just one point, then broke Becker again for a commanding 3-0 lead that effectively decided the match. He won by breaking Becker again in the seventh game.

The ATP victory will likely make Edberg, who earned $48,000, the second-seeded men’s player in the U.S. Open.

It was Becker’s first defeat in 12 matches at the ATP, which he won in 1985. Becker sat out the tournament last year.

Pam Shriver completed what she called “the best week of my tennis life,” by defeating Zina Garrison, 6-4, 6-1, in the final of the $280,000 Canadian Open at Toronto.

Shriver, who was seeded third, earned $50,000 for her third tournament title of the year.

Shriver was coming off a 6-4, 6-1, victory over top-seeded Chris Evert Saturday in the semifinals. It was Shriver’s first career victory over Evert after 18 losses dating back to 1978.

Shriver had not played here since she lost in the 1981 semifinal to Tracy Austin, then ranked No. 2 in the world.

After that victory, Austin showed a little too much jubilation for Shriver’s liking, and when the two came to the net to shake hands, Shriver fired a string of obscenities at Austin.

“It took me six years to come back to this tournament, where I had one of my most infamous moments,” Shriver said, referring to the ’81 incident. “I had a loud mouth. I vowed this time I’d just keep my mouth shut and play good tennis, and look what it did.”

Garrison mounted her best attack against Shriver in the first set. The two held serve at 4-4.

With Shriver serving in the ninth game, Garrison forced the game to deuce seven times but failed on three break-point opportunities.

Shriver finally put the game away on the 22nd point and managed to break in the next game to take the set.

“Pam played wonderful tennis all week,” said Garrison, who was playing in her second tournament since a two-month layoff due to a foot injury.