TENNIS AUSTRALIAN OPEN : Becker Defeats Scott Davis in 4 Sets

Boris Becker, wilting a little in the 108-degree heat on the court, held off Scott Davis to reach the third round Thursday in the Australian Open.

Becker, seeded second, beat last week’s New Zealand Open champion, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-2.

“I thought I served very well today,” Becker said. “It was hard to see the ball in the sun . . . It’s hot out there. It’s not easy playing under those conditions, but it’s the same for both players.”

In response to a comment from top-ranked Ivan Lendl that he thought Becker should be rated No. 1, Becker said: “It’s kind of him. Last year, I definitely played a little bit better than he did. We’re both very, very close.”

Davis, ranked 38th from Largo, Fla., had Becker talking to himself in the third set. But the West German settled down in the fourth, and wore Davis down with his power.

In the men’s draw, the two upsets of the day were pulled off by Mark Woodforde of Australia and Jonas Svensson of Sweden. Woodforde eliminated 11th-seeded Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5. Svensson beat No. 14 Jim Courier, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

Yannick Noah had one of the day’s most entertaining matches, using a powerful serve and acrobatic net game, to beat hard-hitting Ronald Agenor of Haiti, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-3.

Noah, coached by former player and former Davis Cup coach Dennis Ralston, appears to be playing almost as well as he did in 1983 when he won his only Grand Slam event, the French Open.

Ralston has helped Noah improve his forehand and his first-serve accuracy, resulting in a victory last week against Lendl en route to a tournament victory in Sydney.

“I wasn’t really going for the big, big serves,” Noah said after the Agenor match. “I was just trying for a good percentage.”

To Agenor, Noah’s serve was big enough. In the final set, Noah lost only one point in five service games. In the second set, he lost only three points in four service games.

Top-seeded Lendl and third-seeded Stefan Edberg advanced easily. Lendl beat Spain’s Tomas Carbonell, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. Edberg routed West Germany’s Patrick Kuhnen, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.

In the women’s draw, there were no major upsets. Second-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina beat the Netherlands’ Manon Bollegraf, 6-1, 6-1; No. 6 Mary Joe Fernandez beat fellow American Kathy Rinaldi, 6-4, 6-4, and No. 11 Pam Shriver endured almost two hours in the midday heat to beat Australian Nicole Provis, 1-6, 6-2, 9-7.

“She gutsed it out,” Provis said. “She fought right to the end.”

Shriver denied rumors that she’s thinking of retiring, although she admitted she thought about quitting during the final set against Provis.

“I told myself if I choked again I’d go home and stay home,” Shriver said. “You say a lot of wild things to yourself in that situation. I don’t know how serious I was, but it worked.”