Tennis Roundup : Sabatini Beats Evert; Shriver Has Graf on Ropes but Loses

Fourth-seeded Gabriela Sabatini defeated Chris Evert for the first time, and top-seeded Steffi Graf won a third-set tiebreaker to beat Pam Shriver Saturday at Boca Raton, Fla.

In reaching the final of a $300,000 Virginia Slims tournament, Sabatini won, 6-1, 7-5. Evert, seeded second, had beaten the Argentine in their five previous meetings dating back to 1985.

Graf needed 2 hours 50 minutes to down the third-seeded Shriver, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6. The West German dodged a match point in the 10th game of the third set with a backhand volley. She won the tiebreaker, 7-5.

“In a way I feel lucky to win,” Graf said. “But at match point down, I took a risk to come in and I made a tough volley. It gave me new confidence.”

At Orlando, Fla., Andrei Chesnokov became the first Soviet to win a men’s professional tennis tournament in the United States since 1974 when he upset Miloslav Mecir, 7-6, 6-1, in the final of the $415,000 Du Pont tournament.

“(This is) big success for me,” said Chesnokov, who saved three set points in the opening set and then raced to a 5-0 lead in the second. “Every victory is very important, not just for me (but) also for Russian tennis.”

Chesnokov was the first Soviet to win a U.S. men’s professional tournament since Alex Metreveli won in New Jersey 14 years ago.

Mecir, who was seeded second, had beaten Chesnokov in both of their previous encounters.