Tennis Roundup : Navratilova Still Unable to Win a Title This Year

Helena Sukova, overcoming a 0-5 deficit in the first set, ended Martina Navratilova’s 69-match winning streak on English grass courts Saturday in the final of a $200,000 women’s tournament at Eastbourne, England.

The 22-year-old Czech, runner-up for the past two years, defeated Navratilova, who had won the five previous championships, 7-6, 6-3.

The last time the 30-year-old Navratilova lost on grass in England was in the 1981 Wimbledon semifinals, when she was beaten by another Czech, Hana Mandlikova.

Next week, Navratilova, who hasn’t won a tournament since last November, will seek her sixth consecutive Wimbledon title.

“Right now I’m not exactly brimming with confidence. But I’ll still go into Wimbledon as the favorite,” she said.

Earlier in the day, she edged Pam Shriver, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, in the rain-delayed semifinals after trailing 0-2, 0-40 in the third set.

“I could have lost that easily. It was a tough day and I had to expend a lot of energy playing Pam,” she said.

Sukova, whose only previous win over Navratilova in 18 meetings was on grass at the 1984 Australian championships, also made a dramatic recovery against Chris Evert Friday.

In that match, she was down 2-5 in the final set but rallied to win, 4-6, 6-4, 8-6. “To beat the No. 1 and No. 3 in the world is a dream come true,” she said.

At Bristol, England, No. 1-seeded Henri Leconte of France and No. 3-seeded Jonas B. Svensson of Sweden lost in upsets.

Michiel Schapers of the Netherlands defeated Leconte, 7-6, 6-7, 7-5, in a quarterfinal match, while Kelly Evernden of New Zealand beat Svensson in the third round, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Because of the backlog of matches caused by bad weather, the semifinals and final will be played today.