Tennis Roundup : All Three Tiebreakers Decisive for Becker

Boris Becker of West Germany reached the final of the $625,000 Buick WCT Finals at Dallas Saturday with a 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 victory over Stefan Edberg of Sweden.

Becker, 1985 Wimbledon champion, will meet Anders Jarryd of Sweden for the $150,000 first prize. Jarryd, who got into the tournament only after Ivan Lendl withdrew because of a knee injury, won his semifinal match Friday night against top-seeded Mats Wilander of Sweden.

Becker is attempting to become the youngest winner of the WCT Finals. Bjorn Borg won the title at 19 years 11 months. Becker is 18 years 4 months.

Becker overcame Edberg after 3 1/2 hours. The first set, which took an hour, was decided by a 7-5 tiebreaker.

The second set lasted 50 minutes and again went into a tiebreaker as both Becker and Edberg held service. Becker won that tiebreaker, 9-7.

Edberg, the Australian Open champion, broke Becker’s service twice to take the third set. But Becker won the fourth-set tiebreaker, 7-2.

Becker said his match with Edberg “was of better quality than our match in the Davis Cup final. It was exciting. Usually Stefan wins the tiebreakers, but I did today.”

Edberg said: “Becker goes for the winners on the tiebreakers. He never plays it safe. I had my chances.”

At Hilton Head Island, S.C., 16-year-old Steffi Graf of West Germany beat second-seeded Hana Mandlikova of Czechoslovakia, 6-2, 6-4, and will meet top-seeded Chris Evert Lloyd for the championship of the $200,000 Family Circle Magazine Cup tournament.

Lloyd beat 16-year-old Stephanie Rehe, 6-2, 6-1.

Graf, who reached the finals of the Virginia Slims of Florida and the Lipton International earlier this year, called her victory over the 1985 U.S. Open champion “one of my biggest wins ever.”

Mandlikova, the No. 3-ranked player in the world, said she felt tired going into the match and was dizzy at the beginning of the first set because she hadn’t had enough to drink.

“I was not doing very well and I just felt very tired today. This is my eighth week in a row, and every week I’ve played a tournament. It’s started to catch up with me, and I need a break.”

She said she will take a month off from the tour to rest.

Lloyd, who came to the net often in her 90-minute match, said she played her best tennis of the tournament.

“I didn’t want to stay back there and hit a lot of ground strokes,” she said. “I don’t feel as patient as when I was a teen-ager. I just want to come in.”

Rehe, of Highland, Calif., said she was pleased with the way she played but said Lloyd “just played too well today.”

Eight of the 15 games went to deuce.