TENNIS ROUNDUP : Edberg Needs 3 Sets to Overcome Rostagno

Stefan Edberg overcame another barrage of aces Sunday and won his third title in a row, beating Derrick Rostagno, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, in the Seiko Super $1-million tennis tournament at Tokyo.

Rostagno, who reached the final by beating Boris Becker and Ivan Lendl, slammed 12 aces to one by Edberg, ranked No. 1 in the world.

But two volley errors when he was serving at 2-3 in the deciding set ended Rostagno’s chance for victory. Before winning this championship, Edberg won the Australian Indoor Open last week and the U.S. Open in September.

Saturday, Goran Ivanisevic of Yugoslavia bombarded Edberg with 21 aces before Edberg won.

Against Rostagno, seeded seventh, Edberg broke serve in the fourth game, was broken on a double fault, then broke again in the sixth game.

Rostagno began the second set with three aces in the first game and broke Edberg in the fourth and sixth games.

Rostagno fired three more aces in the fourth game of the third set. But in the sixth game, “I made a couple of errors on volleys that cost me the match,” he said.

Rostagno was leading, 30-15, on two aces, but at deuce he hit a volley long, then netted another.

Edberg broke again in the eighth game to end the 96-minute match.

Edberg received $122,700 for his sixth victory of the season, bringing his total winnings this year to $1,617,105.

Top-seeded defending champion Steffi Graf of Germany defeated sixth-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-4, 6-4, at Zurich, Switzerland, to win the European Indoors tournament for the fifth time.

Graf, ranked No. 2 in the world, rarely had a problem in the 66-minute match, despite an inflamed right wrist that bothered her throughout the tournament and the spirited play of Tauziat. It was the 60th tournament victory of Graf’s career, her sixth this year.

Graf did not lose a set during the tournament and remained unbeaten in 15 matches against Tauziat, who is ranked 15th in the world. Graf previously won the tournament in 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1990.

Fourth-seeded Petr Korda of Czechoslovakia defeated Arnaud Boetsch of France, 6-3, 6-4, to win the ATP tournament at Berlin for the second time.

Boetsch, a qualifier, couldn’t overcome Korda, ranked 15th in the world. Korda controlled the 80-minute match with accurate baseline and passing shots.