TENNIS ROUNDUP : Courier, No. 1 in World, Is Also No. 1 in Rome

Jim Courier lived up to his No. 1 world ranking by overpowering Spain’s Carlos Costa, 7-6 (7-3), 6-0, 6-4, to win the Italian Open Sunday at Rome.

The victory established Courier as the clear favorite to successfully defend his title at the French Open, which begins next Monday.

Courier is the first American to win the Italian Open since Jimmy Arias in 1983. And he did it in convincing style against an opponent playing in his fourth clay-court final of the year.

“I couldn’t do anything against him,” Costa said. “He is a very complete player, very strong. Jim is extremely concentrated on every point. He has no ups and downs.”

On a blistering day when temperatures at the Foro Italico were in the 90s, fitness proved the key factor. Costa folded after the tight first set, needing a dose of mineral salts at one stage to keep him going.

Courier became only the second American to win both the French and Italian Open titles. Budge Paddy won in Paris in 1950 and Rome in 1954.

Italian newspapers reported that 1.2 billion lire, or about $1 million, in advance ticket sales for the Italian Open is missing. A ticket agency has not been able to account for the missing revenue.

The Italian Tennis Federation announced it has taken legal action to recover the missing money.

Also, authorities are investigating whether a temporary center court grandstand, the media center and other facilities were built without proper permits.

Steffi Graf had to struggle to beat Arantxa Sanchez Vicario for the second year in a row in the final of the $550,000 Berlin Open.

Graf rallied to beat the world’s No. 5 player from Spain, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, for her sixth title at the clay-court tournament.

Last year, Graf won, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), over Sanchez Vicario in the Berlin finals.

Graf has won 64 tournaments overall.

She earned $110,000 Sunday. Sanchez Vicario earned $44,000.

23, admitted she was not up to par.

“The most important thing is that when the pressure was on, I did the right things,” she said. “I certainly haven’t played well in the past two days, but I’ve won somehow. I used to be too impatient to win like that.”