Davis Cup Roundup : Becker Gives West Germany Victory Over Czechoslovakia

Boris Becker defeated Milan Srejber, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, Sunday to give defending champion West Germany a 3-2 victory over Czechoslovakia in a Davis Cup World Group quarterfinal at Prague, Czechoslovakia.

West Germany will play host to the United States in the semifinals July 21-23. The United States advanced with a victory over France.

Czechoslovakia had taken a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five competition Saturday after Srejber and Petr Korda beat Becker and Eric Jelen in doubles. But Carl-Uwe Steeb evened the score by beating Karel Novacek, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, in Sunday’s first match and Becker clinched the victory by overpowering Srejber.

“It’s very difficult to win against Czechoslovakia in Prague before 12,000 of their supporters,” West Germany’s captain, Nikki Pilic, said. “We didn’t feel too well after losing the doubles and we knew we would have to show on Sunday how strong mentally we are.”

Becker, ranked fourth in the world, got off to a fast start. He broke Srejber in the second game with two blistering returns and won the opening set in 31 minutes.

Becker double-faulted twice to give Srejber two break points in the second game of the second set. But Becker came back to win the game and the set.

“After that (second) double fault, I really had to concentrate,” Becker said. “But I held my serve and that was probably the decisive moment in the match.”

Steeb had evened the series by beating Novacek, who had replaced the injured Miloslav Mecir.

Sweden advanced to the Davis Cup semifinals by beating Austria, 3-2, at Vienna.

Stefan Edberg clinched the victory when he overpowered Austria’s Horst Skoff, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, to give Sweden an insurmountable 3-1 lead.

Edberg only needed 1 hour 23 minutes for his victory, appearing in control throughout.

“I played a near perfect game,” he said.

Skoff seemed tired after upsetting Mats Wilander in a match lasting more than six hours Friday and also playing in the doubles Saturday.

With Sweden’s victory assured, the second singles match was reduced to the best of three sets, and Austria’s Alexander Antonitsch upset Mats Wilander, 6-3, 7-5.

In the semifinals, Sweden will play Yugoslavia, which defeated Spain in Split, Yugoslavia.