Tennis Roundup : Becker Has Too Much for Mayotte, 7-6, 6-1, 6-3

The time may have come for Boris Becker to challenge Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander.

Becker, ranked third in the world, overpowered two-time defending champion Tim Mayotte, 7-6, 6-1, 6-3, in the $602,500 U.S. Pro Indoor Championships.

“Only time will tell,” Becker said when asked if he can become the No. 1 player in the world. “I don’t think I have reached my peak yet.

“I thought that (Mayotte) has improved a lot on his baseline strokes. He’s known as a very good serve-and-volley player, but not really as a guy who can stay there often from the baseline.”

Becker won the 2-hour 27-minute match and the $123,800 top prize by taking five straight games after trailing, 3-1, in the final set. The victory came just a week after Becker won the Stella Artois Indoor in Milan, Italy.

Mayotte said Becker is hitting harder and earlier than he has in the past.

“He was awfully strong off the ground,” Mayotte said. “I think the biggest problem for me was scoring points off my second serve.”

Mayotte took a 2-0 lead in the first-set tiebreaker, but Becker won four straight points and wrapped up the set, 7-4.

Becker was overpowering in the second set, breaking Mayotte’s serve in the third, fifth and seventh games.

Mayotte won three straight games after trailing, 0-1, in the third set. Then Becker took over.

John McEnroe, showing flashes of the brillance that once made him the world’s best player, downed top-seeded Jakob Hlasek of Switzerland, 6-3, 7-6, to win a $291,000 Grand Prix tournament at Lyon, France.

It was the 73rd career Grand Prix title for McEnroe, who was ranked No. 1 in the world from 1981-1984. Only Jimmy Connors with 107 victories, and Ivan Lendl with 74, are ahead of him.

“I feel I am getting closer and closer,” McEnroe said. “My game is getting stronger and I am very optimistic about this year.”

Trailing, 5-2, McEnroe held off three set points in the second set, saving two of them on a brilliant service return and a defensive lob in the ninth game. He faced set point again in the 10th game, but came to the net and forced Hlasek to hit a backhand long.

McEnroe served for the match at 6-5, but his two unforced errors helped force a tiebreaker, which McEnroe won, 7-3.

Zina Garrison won her first tournament in two years by routing Larisa Savchenko of the Soviet Union, 6-1, 6-1, to win the $250,000 Virginia Slims of California at Oakland.

Garrison, seeded No. 3, needed only 50 minutes to dispose of Savchenko, seeded fourth, and pick up the $50,000 prize.

Garrison lost only seven points on her serve against the Soviets’ second-ranked player, who upset top-seeded Martina Navratilova Saturday night.

Savchenko, 22, lost to Navratilova in the final of last year’s tournament.

Amy Frazier defeated top-seeded Barbara Potter, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, to win a $100,000 Virginia Slims tournament at Wichita, Kan.

It was the first major tournament victory for Frazier, a 16-year-old high school junior. She won a USTA satellite event in 1987 at Kona, Hawaii.

Potter, ranked 12th in the world, seemed in command, 6-4, 4-3, but Frazier swept the last nine games.