TENNIS ROUNDUP : Seles Again Shows Navratilova the New Order

When Martina Navratilova tried to reach into the past, top-ranked Monica Seles quickly brought her up to date.

Seles denied Navratilova her 13th Chicago Slims title Sunday with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory.

“I want to know what Monica had for breakfast because I didn’t play that badly and got whooped in the last two sets,” said Navratilova, 36, who has won 12 of 14 finals in her 17 Chicago appearances.

“The first time I played here, Monica wasn’t even born.”

The $75,000 first prize brings Seles’ 1993 earnings to $390,700 for eight matches, all victories, including the Australian Open.

Seles, 19, has a 10-6 edge against Navratilova, including five victories in the last six meetings between the two left-handers. She was making her first stop in Chicago since 1989 when she lost in the first round as a 15-year-old.

“In the first set, Martina just played well,” Seles said. “In the second set, I said to myself, ‘Come on. I can play better.’ ”

In the third set, Seles broke in the first, third and seventh games.

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Top-ranked Jim Courier wobbled a bit, but was still standing at the finish.

Courier battled through mental exhaustion and held off 96th-ranked Todd Martin, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4), to win the Kroger-St. Jude International championship at Memphis, Tenn.

“It’s very satisfying to win four three-set matches in a row,” Courier said. “It’s very hard to do particularly after coming from a place like Australia.”

Courier led, 5-4, in the final set but squandered five match points. In the tiebreaker, Courier took a 6-3 lead with an ace, and won moments later when Martin hit a return into the net.

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Second-seeded Boris Becker won for the fourth time in his last five tournaments by downing Sergei Bruguera of Spain, 6-3, 6-3, in the final of the Milan Indoor tournament at Milan, Italy.

Becker, who has won 38 tournaments in his career, traces his improved play to the training regimen of Austrian Gunther Bresnick, who became his coach last year.

“Results speak for themselves,” Becker said of the partnership.

Becker’s only setback since hiring Bresnick was a first-round defeat in the Australian Open.

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Top-seeded Jana Novotna beat fifth-seeded Kimiko Date of Japan, 6-3, 6-2, to win the Asia Women’s Open at Amagasaki, Japan.