Unheralded Srejber Beats Becker, Stands Tall

BOCA RATON, Fla. —  Milan Srejber of Czechoslovakia, playing in only his second Grand Prix tennis tournament, rode a powerful serve to a 7-6, 6-3 upset of fourth-seeded Boris Becker Friday night in the Lipton International Players Championship tennis tournament.

The tallest player on the professional tour at 6-8, Srejber turned the tables on Becker, the reigning Wimbledon champion from West Germany who normally devastates opponents with a powerful serve of his own.

Srejber had only four aces to Becker’s six, but the Czech also had 17 service winners during the 97-minute match.

Srejber, runner-up in last week’s Corel North American Indoor championships at Toronto as a qualifier, won the tiebreaker in the first set, 7-4. He took command of the second by breaking Becker’s serve in the sixth game for a 4-2 lead.

Becker pushed aside suggestions that he may have been looking past the unheralded 22-year-old, whose ranking improved from No. 121 to No. 76 after his showing in Toronto.

“He was serving well and had a pretty good touch,” Becker said. “His movement is very fast, so you can’t see where he’s going. He maybe has the fastest (serve) I’ve ever played against.”

Srejber said the hard courts at Boca West are suited for his serve. He has played professionally for three years, but mostly on clay courts.

“I expected to play a good match,” he said. “I had nothing to lose. He was ranked 5 or 6, and I was 76.”

Earlier, sixth-seeded Yannick Noah of France overpowered Tim Wilkison, 6-2, 6-4, and Jan Gunnarson of Sweden beat Michael Schapers, 6-2, 6-3.

In women’s play, Steffi Graf of West Germany, seeded second, advanced with a 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 victory over England’s Sara Gomer. Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria, seeded fourth, eased past Raffaella Regii of Italy, 7-5, 6-1, and sixth-seeded Zina Garrison defeated Jennifer Mundel of South Africa, 6-4, 6-3.

Kathy Rinaldi, seeded ninth, ended a personal five-match losing streak to Bettina Bunge, beating the West German for the first time, 6-4, 6-4.