Tennis Roundup : Lendl Is Stopped by Becker

Boris Becker, who had not won a tournament since August, ended his dry spell and Ivan Lendl’s winning streak Sunday with a 7-6, 6-3 victory in the final round of the $315,000 Chicago Grand Prix tournament.

Becker, ranked No. 5 in the world, had never defeated Lendl, the world’s No. 1 player, in four previous meetings.

“I came close before and I said to myself that one of these days I have to beat him, and I finally did it today,” the 18-year-old West German said.

“Other times I came very close to beating him, especially in London and again in the Masters. But each time he just overpowered me.”

Before Becker’s victory, worth $50,000, Lendl had won 29 straight matches and the last four tournaments. As runner-up Sunday, the 26-year-old Czechoslovakian picked up $25,000.

Lendl, who has suffered from tendinitis in his knee for the last month, aggravated the injury midway through the first set but finished the match. He said he will not play again until the problem is resolved.

“It was giving me trouble on low balls to my backhand,” he said. “The same thing for my forehand when I run. I have to use my upper body and not my lower body.”

Becker said he did not notice Lendl having any trouble.

“I don’t think it bothered him that much,” Becker said. “He aced me at 6-4 in the tiebreaker.”

The first set took 1 hour 22 minutes and was decided by Becker’s 7-5 victory in the tiebreaker. Becker fell behind 3-1 in the tiebreaker and then won five straight points.

After beating Lendl in the first set, Becker got a break in the seventh game of the second set to go ahead 4-3. He held his serve in the eighth game, then broke Lendl in the ninth and final game, winning the second set in 41 minutes.

The end was surprisingly sudden. Lendl missed a drop shot from the base line to go down 0-15, then double-faulted to go down 0-30. Becker hit a service return winner to go ahead 0-40, then saw Lendl win the next two points before Lendl hit a forehand wide to finish the match.

Lendl said he was disappointed that he didn’t win, but that he didn’t play tennis to see how long a winning streak he could acquire.

“I don’t play tennis for streaks,” he said. “I play tennis because I enjoy it and I play to do my best.”

Lendl’s defeat in the first set was the first time he had lost a set in 14 matches.

Becker, with successive victories over Lendl and Jimmy Connors, says he’s now playing the best tennis he has played since he won at Wimbledon last year. However, Becker lost in the first round last week which is the only reason he decided to play in Chicago.

“Sometimes I lose early, then next week I beat everybody,” he said. “Consistency comes with age. But I belong in the top 10 for sure.”

Joakim Nystrom of Sweden won a $315,000 tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands, defeating countryman Anders Jarryd in 90 minutes, 6-0, 6-3.

It was the third victory of the year for the 23-year-old Nystrom, who previously won Grand Prix tournaments in Toronto and La Quinta.

By winning the $50,000 first prize, Nystrom raised his earning for the year to $194,896. He now has earned more than $1 million in his career.

Pam Shriver and Barbara Potter won the largest doubles prize on the women’s circuit by defeating Elizabeth Smylie and Kathy Jordan, 6-3, 6-4, in the $175,000 Bridgestone Doubles championships at Nashville, Tenn.

Shriver and Potter shared a $60,000 purse. Smylie and Jordan, the reigning Wimbledon champions, split $30,000.

At Bradenton, Fla., 12th-seeded David Wheaton of Minnetonka, Minn., outlasted fourth-seeded Michael Briggs of Newport Beach, Calif., 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, to win the Boys 18 singles title in the McDonald’s Junior Tennis Challenge.

In the Girls 18, seventh-seeded Halle Cioffi of Knoxville, Tenn., held off sixth-seeded Tami Whitlinger of Neenah, Wis., in a three-hour match, 6-4, 6-7, 6-2, winning the second-set tiebreaker, 12-10.

Meanwhile, in the Boys 16, top-seeded Marco Cacopardo of Bradenton defeated second-seeded Tim Jessup of Downers Grove, Ill., 6-1, 6-4. In the Girls 16, fourth-seeded Anne Grossman of Grove City, Ohio, upset second-seeded Caryn Moss of Pembroke Pines, Fla., 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.