Tennis Roundup : Edberg Joins Becker in Final With a 4-Set Win Over Noah

Sweden’s Stefan Edberg defeated France’s Yannick Noah, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, Friday night in the World Championship of Tennis Finals at Dallas to set up a title match against West Germany’s Boris Becker.

Becker advanced to the final Thursday night by beating Brad Gilbert, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.

Noah won $50,000 for his semifinal appearance. Today’s winner will earn $200,000, while the loser will get $100,000.

Edberg has defeated Noah in all six of their meetings but, after a quick start, had to struggle in a match that took 2 hours 28 minutes.

Alternately hitting brilliant and poor shots, Noah became the crowd favorite. But he managed just one service break against Edberg, who lost just six points on his serve in the first set.

After losing his serve in the ninth game of the second set, Edberg jumped to a 0-40 lead in the 10th and eventually had five break points. But Noah fought back to hold serve and win the set.

Edberg broke Noah in the sixth game of the third set, and faced four break points on his own serve in the next game only to hold on and eventually serve out the set.

Edberg broke in the seventh game of the final set when Noah made a series of unforced errors.

Unseeded Arantxa Sanchez of Spain continued a string of upsets at Largo, Fla., by eliminating fifth-seeded Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria, 6-2, 6-2, in the quarterfinals of the $200,000 Eckerd Open.

The 16-year-old player advanced to the semifinals, where she’ll face unseeded Patricia Tarabini of Argentina.

In night matches, top-seeded Chris Evert routed sixth-seeded Sylvia Hanika of West Germany, 6-1, 6-0, and Halle Cioffi defeated Wiltrud Probst of West Germany, 7-5, 6-2.

At Houston, 16-year-old Michael Chang beat Sammy Giammalva, 6-4, 6-0, to advance to the semifinals of the $200,000 River Oaks International tournament.