Sabatini wins final

Press, 16 May 1989, Page 36

Sabatini wins final

NZPA-Reuter Rome Gabriela Sabatini clung on to her Italian Open tennis crown yesterday after being put through a tough final by Spanish prospect Arantxa Sanchez.

Sabatini, the world No. 3, eventually beat the 17-year-old Sanchez 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, to claim the $60,000 first prize. The Argentine has always been a favourite with the Foro Italico crowd but Sanchez, who has learned from older brother Emilio the art of enjoying a good fight, won many hearts with her pluck and good-natured determination. Sabatini was on the verge of settling the match in two sets in little more than 90 minutes when she served at one set up and 5-4. But fourth seed Sanchez, who had never taken a set off Sabatini in six previous meetings, broke the defending champion’s next two service games and served out to win the set

and prolong the match by another hour. • The world No. 1, Ivan Lendl, battled back from a set down to reach the final of the West German Open tennis championships yesterday in Hamburg. But his hopes of a showdown with Boris Becker in the final were dashed when the West German crashed out with a back injury. Lendl lost the first set of his semi-final with West German Carl-Uwe Steeb 6-4 on Sunday in a match interrupted three times by persistent rain. When the players resumed yesterday with Lendl 5-0 ahead in the second set, the Czecho- * Slovak took just 57 minutes to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

The world No. 2, Becker — bidding to reach only the second clay-court final of his career — was hampered by painful muscle spasms in the base of his back

and lost 7-6 6-2 against

Austrian Horst Skoff. The injury restricted his mobility and strong serve in the second set but he said he expected the problem to clear up in a few days. Lendl, playing his first tournament on clay ahead of the French Open at the end of the month, said he would have preferred the test of Becker instead of Skoff, No. 31 in the world, in the final.

• Jay Berger yestereday captured his first singles title in his native United States by beating compatriot Lawson Duncan to win the U.S. Clay Court Championship in Charleston, South Carolina.

Berger, the sixth seed, defeated the unseeded Duncan 6-4, 6-3 in a final match delayed an hour by rain. Berger, aged 22, got his only service break of the first set in the ninth game, after going to deuce three times.