TENNIS ROUNDUP : Krickstein Rallies to Defeat Edberg in Tokyo

Third-seeded Aaron Krickstein outlasted top-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3), in a 2 1/2-hour semifinal match of the Seiko tournament Saturday at Tokyo.

Edberg had a 5-2 lead in the third set before Krickstein took three consecutive games and eventually forced the tiebreaker.

“I was not winning important points in the first set, and I was not aggressive enough at the beginning,” Krickstein said. “When I get behind, I go for broke.”

Edberg, who has lost to Krickstein all three times they have met, said, “He is always very, very good against me.”

In today’s final, Krickstein will meet fifth-seeded Carl-Uwe Steeb of West Germany, who beat Darren Cahill of Australia, 6-4, 6-4, in the other semifinal match.

Top-seeded Steffi Graf advanced to the final of the European Indoor with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over third-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia that took only 47 minutes at Zurich, Switzerland.

In the other semifinal, fifth-seeded Jana Novotna of Czechoslovakia downed Monica Seles of Yugoslavia, 7-6, 6-4.

Revitalized Jimmy Connors defeated Gilad Blum of Israel, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, at Tel Aviv to win the Riklis Grand Prix tournament, his second victory in as many weeks and the 109th of his career.

Connors donated his $20,000 first prize to the Israeli Tennis Center.