TENNIS ROUNDUP : Sanchez Vicario Is Difference for Spain

The name on the Federation Cup will be Spain, but it should say Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

Sanchez Vicario beat Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-3, 6-4, then carried inexperienced doubles partner Conchita Martinez to a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Gigi Fernandez and Zina Garrison to give Spain a 2-1 victory over the United States in the finals Sunday at Nottingham, England.

In the other singles match, Jennifer Capriati defeated Martinez, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1.

“After I won my singles, we knew we had a chance, but it would be difficult,” Sanchez Vicario said. “We decided to just go for it. We haven’t played many times together, but we work well together.”

Sanchez Vicario led the crowd in cheers of “Ole! Ole!” as Spain rallied.

She was all over the court, smashing winners and exhorting Martinez--ranked 105th in the world in doubles. Gigi Fernandez, ranked No. 1 in doubles, said the reason for the loss was simple.

“I think basically we choked,” she said. “That’s the biggest choke of my career by far. I think I was way under par today. It happens when you’re in the final and you’re playing for your country.”

The Americans took a 4-0 lead in the first set of the doubles, but then won only four games the rest of the way.

Fernandez became so frustrated that she hit a ball out of the stadium in anger, earning a warning from the umpire, after missing two volleys in the last game.

When Sanchez Vicario was handed the Federation Cup, which was filled with water and yellow roses, it tipped and drenched her.

Spain, which lost in the 1989 Federation Cup final to the United States, prevented the Americans from winning their third consecutive title. The United States still has a record 14 Federation Cup titles.

No. 12-seeded Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union rallied to beat Petr Korda of Czechoslovakia, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, to win the Canadian Open at Montreal.

The victory marked the first time a Soviet citizen won the Canadian Open since its inception in 1929. It also gaves the 32nd-ranked Chesnokov the seventh title of his career and his first this year.

“I’m going to New York for dinner and, of course, I’m going to get drunk,” a smiling Chesnokov said when asked about his victory celebration plans.

Korda, who lost to Andre Agassi in the final of a tournament last week at Washington, has yet to win a professional tournament.

“Of course, I want to win once in my life, but if someone had told me three weeks ago that I’d be going to the final twice in as many weeks, I would have told the person he was crazy,” Korda said.

Korda, who hoped to play Ivan Lendl in the final, had a 6-3, 3-0 lead before Chesnokov, who beat Lendl in the semifinals, battled back.

When he had the big lead, Korda walked to Chesnokov’s side of the net and flapped his arms in a mocking gesture at his opponent. That’s when Chesnokov’s game seemed to improve.

“I was thinking then that I was going to play so well that he wasn’t going to do that again,” Chesnokov said.

Chesnokov broke back three times on his way to squaring the match in the second set, and rolled to a 5-1 lead in the final set.

Unseeded and relatively unknown Isabelle Demongeot of France won her first pro title, beating second-seeded Lori McNeil, 6-4, 6-4, in the Westchester Ladies Cup at Purchase, N.Y.

Demongeot, a pro since 1983 who earned $18,000 with the win, beat top-seeded Laura Gildemeister of Peru in the semifinals.

“I really can’t believe that I have finally won,” said Demongeot, 24. “I don’t know where I am right now. Everybody kept telling me that I had a good game, but I knew that I had never won. That left some doubts in my mind.”

Demongeot, who broke McNeil’s service to take a 5-4 lead in the opening set, had three more breaks in the finale. McNeil double-faulted twice while serving in the ninth game and Demongeot again led, 5-4, then served out the match.

“My serve was poor and that was the difference in the match,” McNeil said. “I had difficulty tossing the ball in the air.

Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden outlasted Jordi Arrese of Spain, 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 6-1, 6-0, to win the Dutch Open at Hilversum, the Netherlands.

The fourth-seeded Gustafsson won 12 of the last 13 games to end the match after 3 hours 37 minutes.

Third-seeded Chuck Adams of Pacific Palisades downed top seeded Bryan Shelton of Huntsville, Ala., 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the California Open Tennis Championship at Aptos, Calif.