TENNIS ROUNDUP : Courier Gets Help, Wins Race for No. 1

A little help from Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic, plus his own victory, combined to produce a set of circumstances that made Friday a big day for Jim Courier.

Courier became the first American since John McEnroe in 1984 to finish the year as the No. 1 tennis player in the world.

He also moved into the semifinals of the ATP Tour World Championship at Frankfurt, Germany.

Courier began the last day of round-robin play by beating Michael Chang, 7-5, 6-2.

He then had to wait until the last match of the day to find out if he would advance to the semifinals of the season-ending event.

Ivanisevic’s 6-4, 6-3 victory over Richard Krajicek put Courier in.

Becker, meanwhile, helped Courier retain the top ranking by defeating Stefan Edberg, 6-4, 6-0, eliminating the Swede from the tournament and ending Edberg’s bid to finish as No. 1 for the third year in a row.

Courier, the only player in the tournament to win two Grand Slam titles this season (the Australian and the French Open), became No. 1 on Feb. 10 and held it for six weeks, before Edberg regained it.

Said Edberg: “Looking back, he has been the best player.”

Today’s semifinals will feature a rematch of last year’s final when Sampras won his first ATP Tour World Championship by beating Courier. Becker will play Ivanisevic in the other semifinal.

*

Gabriela Sabatini flirted first with perfection, then with disaster before rediscovering her game in time to earn the final semifinal berth in the Virginia Slims Championships at New York.

By defeating seventh-seeded Jennifer Capriati, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, Sabatini advanced to today’s match against defending champion Monica Seles.

Earlier Friday, Lori McNeil ousted No. 8 Conchita Martinez of Spain, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. McNeil, who upset No. 2 Steffi Graf in the opening round, will face fourth-seeded Martina Navratilova in the first semifinal this afternoon.

Sabatini and Capriati gave the fans a show at Madison Square Garden. They battled for 2 hours 3 minutes, and when Capriati sailed a return of service long on the game’s final point, Sabatini retained her hope of winning the season-ending title she won in 1988.