Edberg Comes Back to Win Tiebreaker, Beat Washington

MaliVai Washington’s chance of beating Stefan Edberg in the Volvo International final Monday was as fleeting as an easy backhand approach shot that sailed long.

That errant shot, when Washington was ahead, 3-0, in the first-set tiebreaker, gave Edberg a second chance. From then on, Washington had no chance, losing, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.

“That changed everything,” Edberg said. “I thought he played a pretty shaky tiebreaker. He had a few opportunities really to maim me, but he didn’t take the chances. He let it slip a little bit.”

Washington lost his next three service points as well.

“It was just a bad mistake,” Washington said. “The tiebreaker is crunch time, and you can’t be making mistakes like that.”

Washington had a break point in the first game of the second set, but Edberg came back with three consecutive points, capped by a 104-m.p.h. ace--one of 10 aces he had in the match--to hold serve.

Then Edberg, who pressured Washington’s serve throughout, broke Washington.

Washington had some brief success passing Edberg late in the first set, but didn’t challenge during the second set.

“It went pretty easy from there on,” said Edberg, who credited playing doubles during the week with helping his serve-and-volley game. He was paired with John McEnroe for the first time.