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Lendl again tops Mayotte to win SkyDome event

 
Published Feb. 19, 1990|Updated Oct. 16, 2005

Ivan Lendl has Tim Mayotte's number. This time it was 6-3, 6-0. Lendl, the world's top-ranked player, handed Mayotte his second loss in a tournament final in eight days on Sunday by winning the inaugural SkyDome World tennis championships. It was the 17th time the two have met _ and the 17th time Lendl has won.

Lendl defeated the tournament's sixth-seeded player to collect the winner's purse of $167,500. The SkyDome tournament was the first in the new ATP Tour's Championship Series to be staged in North America.

Mayotte lost in the championship game of a tournament in Milan, Italy, last week. This time he lost to Lendl in 64 minutes.

Becker defeats Steeb for Belgian Indoor title

BRUSSELS, Belgium _ Top-seeded Boris Becker swept past fellow West German Carl-Uwe Steeb 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 Sunday to win the Belgian Indoor Championship, his first tournament title this year.

Becker, ranked second in the world, started slowly, but his power play improved throughout the two-hour match while Steeb's baseline game was ill-equipped to change the momentum of the final.

In the first all-West German final in a major tournament since 1973, Becker won $77,500 and Steeb earned $43,000.

Becker was edgy early as too many of his groundstrokes went wide and his volleys sailed long. But in a clutch situation, he came through with a blistering ace or an awesome smash.

Steeb, ranked 15th in the world, had upset Becker, his Davis Cup teammate, last month in Australia.

Navratilova wins twice in Chicago Slims finals

CHICAGO _ This was still Martina Navratilova's kind of town Sunday.

She captured her 10th Virginia Slims of Chicago singles title with a 6-3, 6-2 blitz of Manuela Maleeva in less than an hour.

Navratilova also teamed with Anne Smith to win the Slims tournament doubles final 6-7 (9-11), 6-4, 6-3 over Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Nathalie Tauziat.

After breezing through the week-long tournament at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion without losing a set, Navratilova again used her intimidating serve and considerable other tennis skills to dispatch Maleeva in a mere 54 minutes.

"Every match I was better. I lost my serve once in the whole tourney and that gave me a lot of confidence that my hard work is paying off," said the Czechoslovakia native who now calls both Texas and Colorado home.

The lone game she lost while serving was Saturday night in the semifinals against Pam Shriver, a 6-4, 6-3 loser to Navratilova.

Navratilova, top-seeded here and No.

2 in the world behind injured Steffi Graf, captured the $100,000 top prize to boost her leading all-time winnings to $15,434,813.

Having worn down her much younger opponent in the first set with a steady diet of deep-in-the-corner shots and an occasional near-net lob, the 33-year-old Navratilova broke Maleeva's serve in the second game of the last set.

The fifth-seeded Maleeva, who turned 23 on Valentine's Day, battled back from 30-0 in the third game to 40-40 before Navratilova held serve for a 3-0 lead.

U.S. Pro Indoor begins today: The last time John McEnroe played in the U.S. Pro Indoor, Tim Mayotte spoiled his bid to become the tournament's first five-time champion.

McEnroe, the world's fourth-ranked player, will try again against No.

12 Mayotte and four other Top 10 players in this year's $1-million tournament today through Sunday at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.