Tennis Roundup : Skoff Defeats Injured Becker in Straight Sets

Austria’s Horst Skoff, taking advantage of Boris Becker’s back injury, and Czechoslovakia’s Ivan Lendl advanced to the finals of the German Open men’s tennis championship Sunday at Hamburg, West Germany.

Lendl, seeded No. 1, defeated Carl-Uwe Steeb of West Germany, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Skoff scored a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 victory over the second-seeded Becker, who was injured during the first-set tiebreaker.

Becker sought medical help at the side of the court after losing the tiebreaker. Then, after serving to take a 1-0 lead in the second set, the West German went to the dressing room for further treatment.

When Becker returned he lacked his usual mobility and tried to keep the rallies short.

Top-seeded Gabriela Sabatini squandered a 6-2, 5-3 lead but regained control midway in the third set to overcome Arantxa Sanchez and gain her second consecutive Italian Open championship at Rome.

Sabatini needed 2 hours 40 minutes to beat the fourth-seeded Spaniard, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, on the slow red clay of the Foro Italico before a near-capacity crowd of 7,500.

Sabatini earned $60,000 for her third title of the year. Sanchez, playing in her first major final, won $24,000.

“I only played well for moments,” said Sabatini, who turns 19 next week. “It’s hard to play when no one from the top is competing.

“The others are all playing better because they want to beat me. They have nothing to lose when they play against me.”

The sixth game of the third set proved to be pivotal in the match that included 18 service breaks in 30 games. With Sanchez serving to even the set, 3-3, she went ahead 40-15. But on the next point, she passed up what appeared to be an easy shot and drilled the ball at Sabatini at the net. Sabatini turned away, and the ball sailed long.

Sabatini broke serve for a 4-2 lead.

Sixth-seeded Jay Berger won his first U.S. title, beating Lawson Duncan, 6-4, 6-3, in the 79th U.S. Clay Court Championships at Isle of Palms, S.C.

Berger was more patient and made fewer unforced errors than Duncan in a match between two former Clemson stars that was delayed an hour because of rain.

Berger, ranked 42nd in the world, won $38,000. Duncan, ranked 75th, earned $19,000.

Duncan’s record in championship matches dropped to 0-5.

The title was the third for Berger, whose previous two championships were in South America.

Second-seeded Andre Agassi won the $160,000 Aldi tournament in Ede, Netherlands, defeating top-seeded Anders Jarryd of Sweden, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, in the final. The match took 67 minutes.