TENNIS ROUNDUP : Becker Wins 11 of 12 Games, Avoids Upset

Second-seeded Boris Becker of Germany avoided the upset bug that has hit the $1-million Monte Carlo Open, but third-seeded Guy Forget of France and fifth-seeded Goran Ivanisevic of Yugoslavia weren’t as fortunate.

Becker rallied by winning 11 of the last 12 games Thursday to beat Alexander Volkov of the Soviet Union, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Forget was ousted by Goran Prpic of Yugoslavia, 6-2, 6-0, and Ivanisevic lost to Carl-Uwe Steeb of Germany, 2-6, 6-0, 6-2.

“It just shows how close the game is now,” Becker said. “On any day, anybody can come up and beat (the top players).”

In other third-round matches, Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union routed Andrei Cherkasov, another Soviet, 6-1, 6-0, taking the last 12 games; sixth-seeded Jonas Svensson of Sweden beat Veli Paloheimo of Finland, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3; Horst Skoff of Austria defeated Claudio Pistolesi of Italy, 6-2, 7-5; Alberto Mancini of Argentina ousted Emilio Sanchez of Spain, 6-3, 6-3, and Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden beat No. 11 Guillermo Perez-Roldan of Argentina, 6-4, 6-3.

Earlier this year, Becker won the Australian Open, which boosted him to the No. 1 in the rankings. However, Stefan Edberg regained the top ranking.

But Becker says he is not obsessed to get back on top.

“I am not thinking about getting back to No. 1 right now,” Becker said. “I just want to play good clay court tennis the next few weeks.”

Third-seeded Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere of Bulgaria and local favorites Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Conchita Martinez advanced to the quarterfinals of the WTA Barcelona Open with straight-set victories.

Maleeva-Fragniere breezed past Silke Frankl of Germany, 6-0, 6-1.

Second-seeded Sanchez Vicario, a two-time defending champion, trounced Bettina Fulco of Argentina, 6-1, 6-2.

Fourth-seeded Martinez beat Rachel McQuillan of Australia, 6-4, 6-3.

Top-seeded Martina Navratilova was leading Katia Piccolini of Italy, 6-0, 3-0, when rain halted their match. They are scheduled to complete it today.

In other matches, sixth-seeded Judith Wiesner of Austria overcame No. 12 Karine Quentrec of France, 1-6, 6-2, 6-0; fifth-seeded Nathalie Tauziat defeated No. 15 Alexia Dechaume of France, 6-3, 6-3, and eighth-seeded Julie Halard of France defeated Noelle Van Lottum, also of France, 7-5, 6-0.

No. 14 Emanuela Zardo of was leading seventh-seeded Isabel Cueto of Germany, 2-6, 6-1, 5-2, in another match suspended by rain.