Tennis Roundup : Graf Rallies to Win Third Straight Title

Top-seeded Steffi Graf of West Germany fought off a match point and a three-game deficit in the second set Sunday to win the U.S. Open Clay Courts women’s singles title at Indianapolis.

After third-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina had taken a 2-5, 30-40 lead in the second set, Graf reeled off eight straight points en route to a 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory in a match that lasted two hours. She won the tiebreaker, 7-5.

It was the third time in three meetings that Graf, 16, had defeated Sabatini, 15. And it was her third consecutive tournament championship.

Currently ranked third in the world, she now has a 15-match winning streak.

“I figured it was now or never,” Graf said of her thoughts when she was down match point. “Somebody else would have been scared to go for it (a winner), and then I hit two in a row, so it was good.”

With the victory, Graf picked up $38,000, while Sabatini earned $17,000.

“Maybe I got a little bit nervous after the match point, but she did play awfully well,” Sabatini said through an interpreter.

In the men’s final, second-seeded Andres Gomez of Ecuador defeated top-seeded Thierry Tulasne of France, 6-4, 7-6.

Gomez, who won the tiebreaker, 7-1, was making his third appearance in the final at the Indianapolis Sports Center.

He was defeated by Jimmy Arias in 1983 and by Ivan Lendl last year.

“He doesn’t have a big serve, and I felt confident throughout the match,” Gomez said after the 1-hour 46-minute match. “I felt once I got my game together I would be fine.”

Gomez, who has never lost a set to Tulasne in five meetings, earned $51,000. Tulasne received $25,500.

Top-seeded Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia, the world’s No. 1-ranked player, earned the $140,000 top prize in the Audi tournament at Ede, the Netherlands, defeating second-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden, 7-6, 6-3.

“I made some passing shots, I made some lobs, I was controlling the rallies pretty much, and that’s the way I like it,” Lendl said.

Edberg: “I played Ivan a lot of times, so I had an idea how to play, but he played better today and he won the match.”

Top-seeded Joakim Nystrom of Sweden won the $80,000 Madrid Grand Prix with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over fourth-seeded Kent Carlsson, also of Sweden. Nystrom earned $17,000.

The match lasted 1 hour 20 minutes and was played before a crowd of 3,500 at the Club de Campo in Madrid.