TENNIS ROUNDUP : Becker, Forget Go Straight Into Paris Final

Boris Becker, playing superb tennis, and Guy Forget gained the final of the Paris Open with straight-set victories Saturday.

Becker overwhelmed Goran Ivanisevic, the hottest player on the tour, 6-1, 6-2, one day after beating Jim Courier, the No. 1 player in the world.

Forget, the defending champion, defeated Jakob Hlasek of Switzerland, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), in the other semifinal.

Becker routed Ivanisevic in 63 minutes by hitting winning service returns from the baseline.

The German won the first five games in the first set in 19 minutes before Ivanisevic held serve. Then Becker won the set by coming back from two break points and ending it with an ace.

Becker’s serve wasn’t as powerful as it was against Courier, but he got his first serve in when he needed it.

In the second set, Becker took a 4-0 lead and served out from there.

Becker said he has found the form that helped him win Wimbledon three times.

“I’m fresh again,” he said. “I have energy. My appetite is there. I decided to go back to work and slowly but surely it is paying off.”

“He gave me a lesson,” Ivanisevic said. “He was just too good.”

Forget knows he will not have it easy against Becker.

“If I win on Sunday, I have to do it quickly,” Forget said. “It’s been an emotional week.”

Top-seeded Monica Seles turned back German teen-ager Anke Huber, 6-2, 6-3, to advance to the finals of the Bank of the West Classic at Oakland.

Seles will play Martina Navratilova, a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Katerina Maleeva in the other semifinal.