Edberg Earns Another Shot at Becker : Tennis: Swede surprises Lendl in Masters semifinals, setting up rematch with West German, who won convincingly Friday.

And for this afternoon’s Nabisco Masters final, Boris Becker will be served Stefan Edberg, who just may be in for a Swedish pasting.

Have another bit of Stefan, Boris?

Why not? They played Friday night in a round-robin match and Becker had such a good time winning, 6-1, 6-4, that a second helping must sound pretty good right about now.

Just look what Becker did to John McEnroe Saturday. At the tail end of a 6-4, 6-4 victory, Becker’s eight aces were not the only landmark.

No, that would be the backhand passing shot Becker hit with such strength that it left a vapor trail as it crossed the net and passed McEnroe. Becker said it was probably the hardest he had ever hit a backhand in his life.

“I think if John had been there in the middle, there would have been a hole in his body,” Becker said.

Meanwhile, there is a hole in the final. Either Becker or Edberg is going to earn $150,000 by winning today’s final, which for the first time in 10 years does not include Ivan Lendl.

The world’s No. 1 player fell inexplicably flat Saturday in his semifinal showdown with Edberg, who stunned even himself by producing a 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 upset.

Lendl’s reaction? Well, he didn’t exactly sound crushed.

“For once, I have Sunday off,” Lendl said.

He can use the spare time to count his money. With $800,000 already in the Lendl coffers to start the week because of winning the Grand Prix bonus points pool, Lendl also picked up $105,000 for his efforts here.

Becker’s semifinal victory over McEnroe was an exercise in power shot-making and propelled him headlong into an unexpected match with Edberg, which will take place less than two days after they last met.

“It’ll be interesting,” Edberg said.

Interesting? Since July, Edberg has lost to Becker on grass (Wimbledon), French carpet (Paris Indoors) and twice now on the blue rug at Madison Square Garden.

And to get the chance to take his lumps yet again, Edberg defeated Lendl at his own aggressive game. Edberg took the first set by winning a tiebreaker with well-placed volleys scurrying away from Lendl at just the right times.

Lendl’s double-fault early in the tiebreaker didn’t hurt Edberg, either.

Then, ahead a service break in the second, Edberg served for the match at 5-4 and got only as close as 30-30. From there, Lendl ripped a forehand pass crosscourt for a winner and returned a first serve with such accuracy that Edberg could only volley into the net.

“I said to myself, ‘OK, we’re in it.’ ”

Within minutes, he was out of it again. Tied at 5-5, Lendl served to again apply pressure to Edberg’s upcoming service game and failed miserably. A forehand that ticked the net cord and fell over indicated that Edberg’s luck was as good as his chance to break back against Lendl, which he did.

Lendl said Edberg has a chance against Becker. How good a chance, Lendl was asked.

“I think 32.735 percent, is that close enough?” Lendl said.

In McEnroe’s match against Becker, there were a lot of chances that plopped themselves on the carpet and waited there for McEnroe to scoop them up. Nine break point opportunities came and nine went in the first set, slipping through the strings of McEnroe’s racket.

But McEnroe had a reasonable explanation of why he failed to take advantage of the breaks he was afforded.

“You know in the back of your mind he’s got such a big serve,” McEnroe said. “So you get tentative. And then his second serve, it’s probably the best there is.”

Down a break in the first set, McEnroe had Becker down, 0-40, and eventually held a fourth break point, which disappeared with a service return that sailed long and a deft backhand first volley by Becker followed by his resounding forehand winner down the line.

Becker saved four more break points serving at 3-2 and escaped the game when McEnroe guided a backhand passing shot wide.

There was one more chance for McEnroe in the set. When Becker’s forehand approach shot missed wide at 30-30, McEnroe had another opportunity. Three big serves later, it was gone.

McEnroe shook his head as if to say there was nothing he could do.

“He just served too big on the big points,” he said. “I just didn’t feel comfortable.”

The second set featured back-to-back service breaks when Becker broke McEnroe for a 2-1 lead with a forehand passing shot down the line, and McEnroe returned the favor with a break of his own.

When Becker poked a volley into the net on break point, McEnroe raised both his arms in mock triumph. It was the only one of 11 break points that McEnroe converted.

Becker said he is enjoying such a period of confidence that he remains unfazed by such mundane items as break points.

“The key thing is even when I’m down, I still feel I can win,” Becker said. “It doesn’t really matter if it’s a backhand on break point or a serve or what.”

There were no more breaks for McEnroe. Becker got the edge he needed when he broke McEnroe at 4-4, enabling him to serve for the match. Becker served three aces, the last setting up his third match point and the one he cashed in.

Even so, McEnroe failed to go quietly. At one time or other during the match, he drilled a ball into the carpet in anger, he tried to stick his racket into the rug as if it were a javelin, found a torn seam in the court surface and then found time to take issue with a group of pro-Becker fans in the stands.