TENNIS ROUNDUP : McEnroe Can’t Handle Connors

Playing brilliantly, 37-year-old Jimmy Connors won his 108th career title Sunday by defeating longtime rival John McEnroe in the final of a $225,000 tournament at Toulouse, France.

“I don’t think I can play any better than that. It’s something you dream about,” Connors said after his 6-3, 6-3 victory. “To go out and hit the ball that well for two hours is pretty good.”

At one point in the second set, Connors won 11 consecutive points.

It was the 33rd time that Connors and McEnroe met. The first time was at Wimbledon in the 1977 semifinals when McEnroe was an 18-year-old qualifier. Connors won in four sets on grass, but McEnroe lead, 19-14.

Ivan Lendl outclassed Swedish qualifier Lars Wahlgren, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1, to win a $492,500 indoor tournament at Sydney, Australia, for the third time.

It took the world’s top-ranked player only one hour and 47 minutes to wrap up the title.

Wahlgren, 23, ranked 222nd, had not made it past the first round of any major tournament this year and was playing in the first Grand Prix final of his career.

Lendl, 29, earned $75,000 for his victory, the 82nd Grand Prix title of his career and ninth this year. He also got $800,000 for winning the Nabisco Grand Prix series bonus pool.

Wahlgren earned $37,500, easily surpassing his total earnings for the rest of the year.

Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina won a $250,000 women’s tournament at Filderstadt, West Germany, with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory over Mary Joe Fernandez.

Sabatini, seeded No. 1 in the tournament and ranked third in the world, took 1 hour 45 minutes to defeat Fernandez, needing a tiebreaker to claim the hard-fought first set.

Fernandez, of Miami, seeded fifth, upset Zina Garrison, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, in a two-hour semifinal match. Sabatini easily beat her semifinal opponent, Laura Gildemeister of Peru, 6-1, 6-2, in just over an hour. She didn’t lose a set the entire tournament.

Gretchen Magers of San Antonio won the first professional tournament played in the Soviet Union, upsetting home favorite Natalia Zvereva, 6-3, 6-4, at Moscow.

“We were both playing more on emotions then tennis,” Magers said. “I came here to learn about Russia firsthand. I could not have dreamed of winning the tournament.”