TENNIS ROUNDUP : No. 1 Courier Doubles Up to Win Singles Title

Jim Courier seems ready to be No. 1 in the world this time.

Courier solidified his ranking Sunday by beating fourth-seeded Brad Gilbert and third-seeded Michael Chang to win the Salem Open at Hong Kong.

Courier defeated Chang, 7-5, 6-3, in the final after beating Gilbert, 6-4, 6-1, in a semifinal postponed from Saturday because of rain.

“It is always tough to play Brad because he never beats himself and you have to beat him,” Courier said. “You have to come out knowing in the back of your mind that you have to play Michael, who is going to tire you out.”

Courier didn’t win a tournament after taking over the No. 1 ranking earlier this season and gave up the position in a matter of weeks. He regained the top spot from Stefan Edberg of Sweden last week.

In the final, Courier, 21, lost his serve in the first game but came back to break Chang in the fourth and 12th games.

Courier scored the decisive service break in the fourth game of the second set.

Chang advanced to the final by beating Todd Woodbridge of Australia, 6-3, 6-7 (7-5), 6-1, in a semifinal match Saturday that was spread over 10 hours because of the rain.

Monica Seles breezed past Zina Garrison, 6-1, 6-1, in 65 minutes to win a Virginia Slims tournament at Houston.

The top-ranked Seles swept past four opponents in the tournament, showing no signs of a wrist injury suffered last month.

“It was a pretty close match,” Seles said despite the score. “Each game was very close and there were a lot of good points. I just played very well on the key points.”

Seles rolled through the opening set with service breaks in the first, third, and sixth games against the third-seeded Garrison.

Garrison started the second set with a service break for her only lead of the match, but Seles ran off the final six games to win her 24th title.

“I think I was playing pretty good today,” Seles said. “I didn’t want to let Zina into the match too much because she’s a great player and can give me a very tough time. There were a lot of very close games that could have gone either way. So the score was not that easy as it looked.”

Garrison, who has lost five of six meetings with Seles in her career, said she was still tired from her semifinal match and a late doubles victory Saturday night.

“When you play the No. 1 player in the world, you have to stay on top of her all the time,” she said. “To play Monica you have to hit a lot of balls, be patient and hit your shot when you get it. I needed that extra step, and when I went out there I didn’t have it today.”

Jaime Yzaga, seeded fourth, overcame a six-hour rain delay and beat third-seeded MaliVai Washington, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, to win the USTA men’s clay-court championship at Tampa, Fla.

Unseeded Gabriel Markus of Argentina won the Nice Open, his first title on the tour, by beating seventh-seeded Javier Sanchez of Spain, 6-4, 6-4, at Nice, France.