TENNIS ROUNDUP : A Routine Workday for Edberg

Saturday was merely another day at the office for Stefan Edberg.

“When I woke up this morning, I said to myself, ‘It’s back to work again,’ ” Edberg said after beating Andres Gomez, 7-5, 6-3, to advance to the final of the $1.3-million ATP championship at Mason, Ohio.

Edberg passed Ivan Lendl and moved into the top spot on the ATP computer with a victory over Michael Chang Friday in the quarterfinals.

In today’s final, Edberg, a 24-year-old Swede, will meet Brad Gilbert in a rematch of last year’s ATP final won by Gilbert, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5).

Gilbert beat Scott Davis, 6-3, 6-4, in the other semifinal.

Gomez, ranked fifth in the world and seeded third, suffered a service break when he hit a forehand long at 5-5 and 30-40 in the first set. Edberg held serve to win the set.

Edberg told himself to be patient.

“What I was waiting for was for him to make one or two mistakes,” Edberg said. “I was trying to get in whenever I had a chance.”

At 3-3 in the second set, Edberg broke again when Gomez netted a drop shot. Edberg held serve before breaking Gomez again to clinch the match.

“I think now he’s probably mentally tougher than he was before,” Gomez said. “He knew coming in here that if he had a good tournament he could overtake Ivan for No. 1. He’s going to have a mental edge heading into the (U.S.) Open if it remains the same.”

Said Edberg: “It doesn’t feel a whole lot different. But it’s in your mind, you think about it,” Edberg said. “It sort of gives you a little bit of confidence. You think about it when you’re out there on the court and it helps you.”

Top-seeded Jana Novotna of Czechoslovakia survived a three-set battle at the net to beat third-seeded Anne Smith, 6-4, 6-7 (7-5), 7-5, and advance to the final of a $150,000 women’s hardcourt tournament at Albuquerque, N.M.

Novotna will play second-seeded Laura Gildemeister of Peru. Gildemeister beat Susan Sloane, 6-2, 6-2, in the other semifinal.

Gildemeister beat Novotna earlier this year in Florida.