TENNIS ROUNDUP : Graf, Seles Will Put Streaks on Line

Steffi Graf, who has won 66 consecutive sets, and Monica Seles, who has won 23 in a row, will play for the German Open championship today after victories Saturday in West Berlin.

Graf beat Natalia Zvereva of the Soviet Union, 6-4, 6-2, and Seles defeated Sandra Cecchini of Italy, 6-1, 6-3.

“Seles is very tough, very aggressive,” said Graf, who is top-seeded. “She doesn’t make too many mistakes and moves very well. She is definitely one of my top challengers.”

Graf is 3-0 against Seles, seeded second, but they haven’t played in seven months.

Seles lost their last match, 7-5, 6-4, in Brighton, England, on a fast indoor court. But Seles has improved, and the clay surface at the German Open is better suited to her baseline game.

“I have more shots that I can use now,” said Seles, a 16-year-old Yugoslav who lives in Florida. “But Steffi is a great player. I will have to play well off both sides and hit very hard.

“One of us has to lose. I will just try my best and go for my shots.”

Graf hasn’t lost in nearly a year, since losing to Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the French Open final.

Seles overwhelmed Cecchini in the first set, hitting winners from both sides. But Cecchini, who upset Gabriela Sabatini on Thursday, kept Seles on the run with topspin shots to the corners and forced several errors in the second set. Neither player could hold serve in the first five games of the second set before Seles finally got her game in gear.

Graf started slowly, losing her serve in the third game. But she immediately broke back to even it at 2-2 when Zvereva double-faulted on break point.

Thomas Muster fought off three match points and won a third-set tiebreaker to defeat Andres Gomez and advance to the final of the Italian Open in Rome.

Muster, the 10th-seeded Austrian, beat Gomez, the third-seeded Ecuadorean, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), in a rain-delayed match.

Eighth-seeded Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union outlasted No. 4 Emilio Sanchez of Spain, 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), and will meet Muster.

The Chesnokov-Sanchez match, played at night because of rain delays during the day, lasted more than three hours.

Muster, a hard-hitting baseline player, took the offensive when he faced the three match points.

Serving at 4-5, 30-40, Muster moved in behind a short ball and ripped a forehand approach shot for a winner. He went on to hold serve for 5-5.

Two games later, Gomez had two more match points but again failed to convert. On the first, Gomez badly mis-hit a backhand. On the next, Muster surprised Gomez by sneaking to the net and hitting a forehand drop volley.

After Muster held serve, the two players headed into the tiebreaker.

At 3-2, Muster won four consecutive points to close out the match. Gomez made two backhand errors, Muster hit a forehand passing shot and, on match point, he ran down a drop shot and put away an overhead.

Muster said he knew he had to take the initiative on the match points.

“I think that’s the best tactic in that situation,” he said. “I have a better chance coming in and being aggressive than if I stay back and let him do it.”