Tennis Roundup : Edberg Overcomes Lendl at Tokyo

Stefan Edberg isn’t laying claim to the No. 1 spot in the world just yet, but he may be closing in.

Edberg, ranked No. 2, overpowered top-ranked Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, Sunday to win the $375,000 Seiko Super tournament at Tokyo.

“I hit nice ground strokes and passing shots today, and waited for a chance,” said Edberg, 21, after the 2 1/2-hour match. He earned $60,000.

“The victory was an important step for me to become the world’s No. 1, but at least I am No. 1 this week. I need to improve my forehand serve return as the backhand is good.”

The 27-year-old Lendl, winner of five tournaments this season including the U.S. and French opens, earned $30,000.

Edberg played his usual serve-and-volley game before a crowd of 11,000 at Yoyogi National Stadium, while Lendl played mostly from the baseline.

They traded service breaks in the third and fourth games of the first set before it went to a tie-breaker, won by Lendl with some powerful serves, 7-4.

“I’ve played tiebreakers with Lendl before and he wins most of them,” Edberg said.

In the second set, Edberg broke serve in the seventh game. Lendl started with an ace, but Edberg rallied to win the game after it went to deuce three times.

Edberg broke again in the first game of the third set when umpire Gerald Armstrong overruled a line judge and called Lendl’s shot out on game point. He blasted an ace at 40-15 to close out the match.

Second-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina won her third career title when she upset top-seeded Pam Shriver, 7-5, 6-4, in the final of the $200,000 Volvo tournament at Brighton, England.

The 17-year-old Sabatini, who collected $40,000, rallied from a 4-0 deficit to win the first set, saving two set points in the process.

Shriver went ahead in the second set by breaking serve in the first game, but Sabatini got even by breaking back for 2-2. The Argentine went ahead, 5-4, and broke again to beat Shriver for the first time in their last five matches.

Mats Wilander of Sweden defeated John McEnroe, 6-3, 6-4, to win the Riello International Saturday night at Verona, Italy.

Miroslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia finished third with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Paolo Cane of Italy.

Top-seeded Scott Melville of USC won the Bay Point Resort Collegiate tournament at Panama City, Fla., with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 victory over defending champion Paul Haarhuis of Florida State.

In the semifinals, Melville, ranked third among the nation’s college players, beat Mats Malmberg of Trinity, 6-2, 6-1, and Haarhuis defeated John Carras of USC, 6-1, 6-2.

David Pate downed Kelly Evernden of New Zealand, 6-3, 6-4, to win the $70,000 round-robin Carragreen Challenge exhibition tournament at Auckland, New Zealand.

Pate, 25, rated 18th in the world, went through the inaugural four-day event without dropping a set.

Evernden eliminated Wimbledon champion Pat Cash from the series Saturday, despite a severely strained left knee.