Graf to Concentrate on Australian Open

Steffi Graf has decided to skip the season-ending Chase Championships in New York on Nov. 17-23 to give her knee injury more time to heal and to concentrate on the Australian Open in January.

Graf, winner of 21 Grand Slam singles titles and 103 singles titles overall, has not played since losing to Amanda Coetzer in the quarterfinals of the French Open on June 3. A week later, she had kneecap surgery.

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Top-seeded Albert Costa defeated No. 2 Alberto Berasategui, 6-3, 6-2, in an all-Spanish final of the $328,000 Marbella Open at Marbella, Spain.

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Tim Henman defeated Marc Rosset of Switzerland to win the President’s Cup tournament at Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Henman, seeded second, defeated Rosset, seeded third, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.

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Felix Mantilla defeated fellow Spaniard Carlos Moya, 6-2, 6-2, to win the Samsung clay-court tournament at Bournemouth, England.

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Fifth-seeded Jim Perley of Coronado, Calif., defeated No. 8 Jim Nelson of Irvine, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, to win the 60 singles title in the USTA Men’s Grass Court championships at the Rockaway Hunting Club in Lawrence, N.Y.

Top-seeded Russell Seymour of Flint, Texas, had few problems defeating No. 6 King Lambert of Sun Valley, Idaho, 6-1, 6-3, to win the 65 singles title.