TENNIS ROUNDUP : Lendl Beats McEnroe, Gains Final

Ivan Lendl attacked John McEnroe’s backhand and overpowered him with a serve-and-volley game Saturday, taking a 6-3, 6-2 victory to reach the final of the $1.2-million SkyDome World tournament at Toronto.

Lendl will face sixth-seeded Tim Mayotte in today’s final. Mayotte beat second-seeded Brad Gilbert, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), in Saturday’s other semifinal.

McEnroe, who refused to blame his loss on a strained muscle above his groin, said: “I thought I had a chance and it’s disappointing to have played so badly.”

Top-seeded Boris Becker overcame lapses of concentration in the second set to beat Sweden’s Magnus Gustafsson, 6-4, 7-6, and reach the final of the Belgian Indoor Championship at Brussels.

Becker will face fellow West German Carl-Uwe Steeb in the final. Steeb defeated Miloslav Mecir, 6-2, 6-3.

In the second set, Gustafsson raced to a 5-2 lead before Becker won four consecutive games to take a 6-5 lead.

Top-seeded Martina Navratilova used her big serve and strong passing shots to beat her former doubles partner, Pam Shriver, 6-4, 6-3, and advance to the final of the Virginia Slims of Chicago.

Navratilova has now beaten Shriver 25 consecutive times since losing to her at the 1982 U.S. Open, and holds an overall 35-3 edge over the eighth-seeded player.

Navratilova, trying for her 10th Chicago Slims title since 1975, will meet Manuela Maleeva, who defeated No. 2 seed Zina Garrison, 6-2, 6-0.