TENNIS ROUNDUP : McEnroe Eliminated by Becker

Second-seeded Boris Becker defeated John McEnroe, 6-2, 7-6 (7-1), Saturday and advanced to the final of the ABN World tournament at Rotterdam.

Becker, who beat McEnroe’s brother, Patrick, in the quarterfinals Friday, lost in straight sets to John McEnroe in the third round of the Australia Open last month.

Alexander Volkov of Russia also reached today’s final with a 6-2, 6-7 (7-5), 6-2 victory over Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands.

Becker was coasting toward an uncomplicated victory when McEnroe broke his serve and held his own for a 6-5 lead in the second set.

Angered by his lapse, Becker held his serve and powered through the tiebreaker with the help of his ninth and 10th aces.

Stefano Pescosolido of Italy reached a tournament final for the first time by beating eighth-seeded Andrei Chesnokov, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3, in the $260,000 Arizona tennis championships at Scottsdale.

Pescosolido, 20, will play Brad Gilbert, who beat MaliVai Washington, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Chesnokov rallied from a 4-1 deficit to win the first set, but Pescosolido was in control the rest of the way as Chesnokov seemed to run out of steam.

“I missed a lot and didn’t feel enough ball on my racket,” said Chesnokov, who has been eliminated in the early rounds of five of his last six tournaments.