Tennis Roundup : Becker Advances to Milan Final by Beating McEnroe

Top-seeded Boris Becker of West Germany defeated third-seeded John McEnroe, 6-2, 6-3, and Alexander Volkov of the Soviet Union eliminated Eric Jelen of West Germany, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6, Saturday, to advance to the final of the $492,500 Stella Artois indoor tournament at Milan, Italy.

Volkov, ranked No. 61 in the world, reached his first final in a major tournament by alternating passing shots with unforced mistakes.

Becker, who had 10 aces, scored his fourth victory in five matches against McEnroe.

Steffi Graf of West Germany overcame a second-set scare in a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Natalia Zvereva of the Soviet Union to advance to the final of the $300,000 Virginia Slims of Washington at Fairfax, Va.

After getting her second service break of the second set to make it 4-4, Zvereva took a 40-15 lead in the ninth game. But Graf rallied to win the final four points, then held serve at 30 to win. She has an 11-0 record this year and 83-3 in her last 86 matches.

Graf, the world’s top-ranked player, today will face Zina Garrison, who advanced to the final after Monica Seles withdrew because of a sprained right ankle she suffered in Friday’s quarterfinal.

Brad Gilbert played a patient baseline game and unveiled an assortment of pin-point passing shots to beat Kevin Curren, 7-6, 6-4, to advance to the final of the $415,000 Volvo tennis indoor championship at Memphis, Tenn.

In the other semifinal, No. 16-seeded Johan Kriek, beat 16-year-old Michael Chang, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.