No. 2 Becker Sweeps No. 122 Sjreber, Says It ‘Wasn’t Easy’

PARIS — Boris Becker is the reigning Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion and the No. 2 ranked player in the world. He’s the top seed in the Paris Open tennis tournament.

Yet, he says his 6-3, 6-3 first-round victory over Czechoslovakia’s Milan Sjreber today was something he hadn’t taken for granted.

“I was surprised at the way I played. I thought I was going to be worse,” Becker said. “It wasn’t that easy because Sjreber has a good serve and volley.”

In early matches today, fourth-seeded Brad Gilbert of Piedmont, Calif., edged Petr Korda of Czechoslovakia 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, and Ronald Agenor of Haiti outlasted Paolo Cane of Italy 7-6, (7-2), 7-5.

Becker said he expected more trouble from his first-round foe.

But the West German broke Sjreber in the fourth game of the first set to gain the advantage. In the second set, Becker came from 1-2 down, winning four consecutive games before wasting a match point and losing his service in the eighth game. He then broke the Czechoslovakian in the next game to close out the victory.