TENNIS ROUNDUP : On His 25th Birthday, Becker Is the Best

The day belonged to Boris Becker, and his victory over Jim Courier made for a celebration.

Becker, who turned 25 on Sunday, defeated the world’s top-ranked player, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5, to win the season-ending ATP Tour World Championship at Frankfurt, Germany.

The 9,000 fans in Frankfurt’s Festhalle had greeted Becker by singing “Happy Birthday.”

He rewarded them by playing nearly flawless tennis, winning the select-field tournament for the first time since 1988 and for the first time since the event moved to his native Germany in 1990.

“I am playing better than probably at any other time in my career,” Becker said. “It’s probably my biggest win in two years.”

After the victory, Becker stood under a spotlight in a dimmed hall. A large birthday cake in the shape of a tennis racket was wheeled in while Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday” blared from the speakers.

Becker had trouble blowing out all the candles, then cut a piece of the cake and ate it to the cheers of fans.

The victory, his fifth tournament title this season, left him 6-0 against Courier.

“He just beat me every time we played . . . fair and square,” said Courier, who lost his second World Championship final in a row.

Courier, the only player to win two Grand Slams events this season (the Australian and French opens), was assured of finishing the year No. 1 earlier in the tournament after Becker’s victory over No. 2 Stefan Edberg.

Becker dominated the final, scoring breaks in the seventh games of the first two sets.

A risky return down the line gave Becker three break points in the seventh game of the second set, and a passing shot to the corner clinched the game. Becker turned back one break point to take a 5-3 lead and broke again with another forehand to the corner to take the set.

Playing exceptionally throughout, top-seeded Monica Seles swept aside Martina Navratilova, 7-5, 6-3, 6-1, Sunday to gain her third consecutive Virginia Slims Championship at New York.

Navratilova played nearly flawless tennis, too. Yet, aside from a moment in the first set, she was never in the running for the $250,000 winner’s purse and had to settle for runner-up for the second consecutive year.

Seles showed the single-session record Madison Square Garden crowd of 18,257 why she is the world’s top-ranked woman player.

Even on her own serve, Navratilova had to stay back if she didn’t get her first serve in, so fast were Seles’ returns.

But by attacking at just the right moments, Navratilova managed to break Seles at love in the ninth game of the first set.

Serving for the set, Navratilova won the first point, forcing the issue with a crisp backhand volley. Then came what the veteran later said was the key point.

Seles slammed a forehand service return that appeared to be going long. Navratilova let it go and the ball landed on the baseline.

It took eight more points, but Seles broke Navratilova, beginning a four-game run in which Seles took the opening set and began the second with a 1-0 lead.

“It was pretty close for a while,” said Navratilova, 35, who was making her 14th appearance in the Virginia Slims Championships. “In the last two sets I got run over by a Mack truck.”