TENNIS ROUNDUP : Cahill Defeats Gilbert

Darren Cahill of Australia won his second singles title in seven years as a professional by defeating Brad Gilbert, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, in the championship match of the Volvo-San Francisco tournament Sunday.

Playing a strong serve-and-volley game, Cahill, 25, survived the assortment of spins, lobs and changes of pace thrown at him by Gilbert, seeded third in the tournament and ranked 10th in the world.

The match turned after Gilbert lost his cool over a line call in the 10th game of the third set. Serving at 30-30 and down 4-5, Gilbert delivered a first serve that was called wide.

Gilbert screamed, “No. No. God, that was inside the line,” then whacked the net with his racket in disgust when it was ruled the call would stand.

Cahill, seeded sixth, then set up match point with a cross-court forehand winner, and took the match with one of his best stands of the match at the net.

The Australian made two great gets, one with a forehand volley, the second with his backhand. On Gilbert’s third try at a passing shot, Cahill dumped a backhand volley into the forehand court beyond Gilbert’s reach for his first singles championship in nearly three years.

Cahill, who defeated John McEnroe in the third round and his Davis Cup teammate Wally Masur to reach the finals, earned $32,400 for his victory in the indoor tournament played at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium.

Cahill, ranked 48th in the world, won his only other singles title in 1988 on clay in Gstaad, Switzerland.

Alexander Volkov of the Soviet Union won his first Grand Prix title, beating Cristiano Caratti of Italy, 6-1, 7-5, in a $600,000 indoor tournament at Milan, Italy.

Volkov, ranked 23rd in the world, earned $77,760. He overwhelmed the younger, unseeded Italian in the first set with fast backhand shots and precise forehands.

Caratti had stunned top-seeded Ivan Lendl in the second round, but was unable pull off another upset despite the support of a partisan crowd of 7,000.

Top-seeded Leila Meskhi of the Soviet Union struggled to a 6-3, 6-7 (7-3), 6-2 victory over Czech teen-ager Andrea Strnadova in the final of $100,000 tournament at Wellington, New Zealand.

In winning her fourth pro event, the 22-year-old Meskhi collected $18,000. Strnadova earned $8,500.