TENNIS ROUNDUP : Seles Beats Fernandez for Title

Top-seeded Monica Seles beat Mary Joe Fernandez for the fifth consecutive time Sunday, 6-4, 6-3, to win the Virginia Slims of Houston.

It was the second victory in Houston for Seles, who won her first career tournament there in 1989.

Fernandez, of Miami, Fla., played aggressively, but it wasn’t enough to overpower the world’s No. 1-ranked player. Fernandez, seeded second, is ranked fifth.

Seles struggled through much of the first set, but finally broke Fernandez in the sixth game and moved ahead, 5-2. Fernandez broke back two games later, but Seles served out the set.

Seles, who handled 84% of Fernandez’s first serves, broke twice more in the second set.

Fernandez lost the match with a backhand net error on her return of serve.

“I just tried to mix it up,” Seles said. “I was just trying to make her run for most of the balls. She’s a tough clay court player.”

Seles said she was bothered by the sun and the wind.

“The wind picked up and you couldn’t go for precise shots,” Seles said.

Seles won $70,000, while Fernandez earned $31,500.

“I kept going for it. I played aggressively,” Fernandez said. “I missed by a little bit. She played very solid.

“I tried the right things, I just missed at the key moments.”

Martin Jaite of Argentina overcame service problems and beat Goran Prpic of Yugoslavia 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, in the final of the Nice Open in France.

It was Jaite’s 12th title and first of the year.

Prpic took a 3-0 lead in the first set as Jaite had trouble with his serve.

“I wanted to make sure to get in some aces on the first serve,” Jaite said.

The overanxious Jaite got in only 37% of his first serves as Prpic won the set.

But Jaite started hitting his shots deeper in the second set, rallying from a 3-1 deficit to serve for the set at 5-3.

“I didn’t start serving well until the middle of the match,” Jaite said. “He had a chance of winning until then.”

However, Jaite wasted two set points. Prpic won the game and eventually forced a tiebreaker, which Jaite won easily.

With more confidence in his serve, Jaite started rushing to the net more.

The turning point of the match came when Jaite broke Prpic’s serve to go up, 4-3, in the final set.