TENNIS ROUNDUP : Edberg, Becker Finally Will Get Together

Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker beat their American semifinal opponents Saturday, setting up a final between the world’s two top-ranked tennis players at the $1.1-million Stockholm Open.

Becker rallied after losing a first-set tiebreaker to beat Jim Courier, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-4, after Edberg defeated Aaron Krickstein, 6-2, 6-2, in 55 minutes.

It will be Becker’s fifth final of the year. He lost the last three--at Monte Carlo, Wimbledon and Indianapolis--after winning his first Australian Open title in January.

Edberg used his serve-and-volley game to reach his fifth consecutive ATP final.

The best-of-five championship, for one of the world’s oldest indoor titles, will be the first match of the year between Edberg and Becker.

Becker leads their series, 16-9, but Edberg won the last match.

“To beat Stefan in a final in Stockholm would be very special,” said Becker, who beat Edberg, 6-4, 6-0, 6-3, in one of his best matches ever at Stockholm a year ago. “I may have one or two new shots which he doesn’t know yet.”

Even if he wins, Becker will not catch Edberg in the ATP computer rankings. Edberg leads by nearly 1,000 points.

Courier, seeded third, won the first-set tiebreaker after a double-fault early by Becker, but Becker, after missing two break points early in the second set, took command when Courier dropped three service games in a row, starting at 5-3.

“I’m playing better and better each match,” said Becker, who has played only two ATP tournaments since being injured at the U.S. Open.

“I beat (Pete) Sampras and Courier in my last two matches here. It’s going to lift my spirits even higher.”

Krickstein upset Wimbledon champion Michael Stich and Goran Ivanisevic earlier in the tournament but couldn’t handle Edberg.

“Things went very well from the beginning today,” Edberg said. “I made few mistakes. It was almost flawless until 6-2, 3-0.”

“I felt I was moving well in the last few matches, but he made me look a step slow,” Krickstein said. “Stefan is playing very aggressively.”

Edberg has won 21 consecutive matches since the U.S. Open, tying his personal best set last year. The streak is the longest in men’s tennis this year.

Top-seeded Steffi Graf struggled for a set before defeating Barbara Paulus, 7-5, 6-1, in the semifinals of an indoor tournament at Brighton, England. Graf will play American Zina Garrison for the title.

Garrison advanced when her opponent, Catarina Lindqvist, retired because of a stomach virus, with Garrison leading, 6-1, 1-0.

Today’s match will be the ninth final of the year for Graf, who had difficulty in the opening set for the second day in a row.

In the quarterfinals, she needed 49 minutes to win the first set against Lori McNeil, and on Saturday, she needed 46 minutes to win the first set when Paulus played an accurate and steady baseline game.

“For some reason, when I went for my shots in the first set I made a lot of easy mistakes,” Graf said. “I haven’t been happy with the way I have played any of my matches this week. I don’t know what is wrong, but I hope I will play better in the final.”

Garrison, seeded third, needed only to keep the ball in play to oust Lindqvist, who was the latest to suffer from a stomach virus at the tournament. Garrison was sick earlier in the week, and Nathalie Tauziat dropped out of her quarterfinal match against Paulus because of the virus.