Tennis Roundup : While Shriver Loses Temper, Navratilova Wins Match

Top-seeded Martina Navratilova, capitalizing on a controversial service call, needed only one hour to defeat second-seeded Pam Shriver, 6-0, 6-3, Sunday in the $250,000 Virginia Slims of Dallas final.

Navratilova, who did not compete in last year’s tournament, won the championship for the eighth time in 10 years. She received $50,000 for the victory, her first title of the 1988 season.

Both players agreed the match turned in the third game of the first set when Shriver served an apparent ace that was called out.

Shriver complained loudly to officials, slammed the ball and went on to lose the first set at love.

Shriver’s emotion carried over into the first game of the second set, when she double-faulted twice.

“That serve was the most aggravating thing that’s happen to me in years,” Shriver said. “The ball was clearly on the line, I haven’t lost control like that in years. There was a lot I said out there that wasn’t printable.”

She admitted, however, two tough matches leading up to the final may have tried her patience.

“I was a little bit tired,” she said. “I played two baseliners back to back and had to stretch a lot. If I had been fresher going into the match, I might have pulled it out. The biggest difference in the match was that Martina was more prepared to play me than I was to play her.”

Navratilova agreed the service call was a close one.

“I knew (Shriver) was uptight,” Navratilova said. “She needed that game to stay in the match. Pam just carried on, kicking the bag and slamming balls. She was in a bad frame of mind.”

Navratilova was also disturbed at Shriver’s pre-match observation that Navratilova’s confidence level has slipped.

“It’ll be quite a while before Pam makes a comment about the state of my mind and my game,” she said. “I’ve learned to keep my comments to myself. Maybe there’s a lesson to be learned.”

Stefan Edberg of Sweden defeated Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia, 7-6, 6-2, to win the $442,000 Nabisco Grand Prix tournament at Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for the second straight year.

“It has been a very lucky week for me,” said Edberg, who picked up the $65,000 winner’s prize. “Mecir was one of the toughest adversaries I ever played.”

Mecir had his chances in the first set. He broke Edberg in the seventh game but wasted four set points. Edberg broke Mecir in return and won the set by taking a 7-5 tiebreaker.

Edberg, who defeated John McEnroe in last year’s final, had difficulty with his backhand throughout the match, committing 11 errors. The Swede, however, broke Mecir in the fifth and seventh games of the second set to end the match after 1 hour 54 minutes.

Yaya Doumbia of Senegal won the $280,000 Nabisco Grand Prix tournament at Lyon, France, defeating Todd Nelson, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Doumbia, who gained entry through qualifying matches, is ranked 453rd in the world; Nelson is 119th.

Nelson, 26, beat defending champion Yannick Noah of France, and Doumbia, 24, eliminated Eduardo Masso of Argentina in Saturday’s semifinals.