Tennis Roundup : The Third Time Is a Charm for Shriver

Top-seeded Pam Shriver defeated second-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia, 6-2, 6-3, Sunday in the final of the $326,000 New South Wales Open at Sydney, Australia.

Shriver, who won last week’s grass-court tournament at Brisbane, is now in top form going into the Australian Open, which begins at Melbourne today.

This was Shriver’s third victory in four meetings with Sukova on grass. Their overall head-to-head record is 5-2 in Shriver’s favor.

In the $123,400 men’s final, fifth-seeded John Fitzgerald of Australia posted a 6-3, 6-4 win over third-seeded Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union.

In previous appearances in the New South Wales tournament, Shriver had lost the 1980 final to Australia’s Wendy Turnbull after failing on seven match points. Last year, she reached the final against Zina Garrison, but started poorly and lost in straight sets.

“This title means a great deal to me because of past history here at White City Stadium,” Shriver said Sunday after collecting the winner’s check of $40,000.

Shriver said she was thrilled to perform so well with her mother and grandmother in the stadium. Two hours after the match, the trio caught a plane for Melbourne where Shriver planned to get in a little practice on the new Rebound Ace (hard court) surface.

Rebound Ace is the surface which has been laid for this year’s $1.9 million Australian Open, replacing the former grass courts of Kooyong in Melbourne.

Amos Mansdorf of Israel beat Ramesh Krishnan of India, 6-3, 6-4, to win the Benson & Hedges singles title at Auckland, New Zealand.

In an all-American doubles final, Marty Davis and Tim Pawsat beat top-seeded Sammy Giammalva and Jim Grabb, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Olivier Lorin of Oklahoma defeated top-seeded Scott Melville of USC, 7-6, 7-6, for the singles title of the Marquette tournament at Milwaukee.

Melville and John Carras, also of USC, won the doubles title by defeating Mike Holten and Brian Gyeto of Arizona State, 6-4, 6-3.