TENNIS ROUNDUP : Navratilova Wins at Eastbourne Again

For Martina Navratilova, it was a familiar first step. First Eastbourne, then Wimbledon.

Seven of Navratilova’s nine Wimbledon crowns have followed triumphs on the grass courts at Eastbourne, England. On Saturday, the top-seeded Navratilova captured a record 11th singles title in this warm-up tournament, defeating Miriam Oremans of the Netherlands, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

It was the 164th title of her career.

Now it’s on to Wimbledon, where Navratilova is seeded No. 2 and will play Michelle Jaggard-Lai of Australia in the opening round.

Navratilova said the Eastbourne event has left her in good position to go for her 10th Wimbledon title.

“Conditions here were as bad as it can get,” she said, referring to the high winds and heavy rains that forced her to play two matches in one day on both Tuesday and Thursday. “I’m ready for anything at Wimbledon.”

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Wimbledon officials have agreed to Pete Sampras’ request not to schedule him for Monday, the opening day of the tournament, giving the top-seeded player more time to recover from a shoulder injury.

Sampras is scheduled to play Australia’s Neil Borwick in the first round, and the top seed usually plays on the first day of the two-week tournament.

In keeping with tradition, the defending men’s champion, this time Andre Agassi, will be first on Centre Court.

Seeded eighth, Agassi meets Germany’s Bernd Karbacher.

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Henri Leconte won his first tournament in five years and taught Andrei Medvedev a lesson on grass with a 6-2, 6-3 victory in the final at Halle, Germany.

Leconte, a few weeks shy of his 30th birthday, dominated the match against the 18-year-old Ukrainian, who was playing only his second tournament on grass.

The Frenchman rattled off 13 consecutive points at the start of the second set in winning his first tournament since Brussels in 1988. He has a 51-25 career mark on grass.

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Unseeded Jason Stoltenberg defeated fellow Australian Wally Masur, 6-1, 6-3, at Manchester, England, for his first tour title.

Stoltenberg took only 63 minutes to send Masur to his second runner-up finish in two weeks. Last week, Masur lost in Rosmalen, Netherlands, to Arnaud Boetsch of France.