Steffi Graf, given a hard time yet again by Lori McNeil, won 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 Sunday to capture the $800,000 Advanta Championships.
"She has always been a tough opponent for me," Graf said. "Lori has so much talent and is difficult for many players, including me, to handle."In tuning up for this week's season-ending WTA Tour Championships in New York, Graf won her eighth title of the year and improved her match record to 43-2 this season.
In her only other tournament since winning her fourth U.S. Open crown two months ago, the world's top-ranked player lost to a qualifier in the first round in Brighton, England. After a first-round bye this week, she beat three unseeded Americans to reach the finals: Amy Frazier, Meredith McGrath and Zina Garrison Jackson.
Struggling with a back injury and her father jailed in Germany on tax-evasion charges, Graf acknowledged she has been unable to maintain her focus on tennis.
"It has been an incredible year," said Graf, who has won 94 tournaments in her career, trailing only Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. "There have just been so many difficult tournaments and difficult circumstances."
Graf has a 9-2 record against McNeil, but had lost their last two matches in dramatic fashion. At Wimbledon in 1994, Graf was the first defending champ to lose in the first round, falling to McNeil in straight sets. In 1992, McNeil became the lowest-ranked player (then No. 18) to beat Graf since the German star was 15, in the first round of the Virginia Slims Championships.
McNeil, now ranked No. 63, had her opportunities Sunday. In her first service game, she led 40-30 but lost on the first of five double faults. Graf broke in the third game and in the fourth, McNeil led 40-15 but lost her serve again.
In the next set, McNeil broke three times and Graf, who had led 4-3, dropped just her eighth set of the year.
In the third set, McNeil was ahead 40-30 but mis-hit an overhead and went on to lose the game and trail 3-0. Then down 4-3, she missed another overhead leading 15-40, then lost the game. McNeil's backhand volley hit the net cord at championship point and Graf had another title, and $148,500.
Graf, the top seed, faces Amanda Coetzer in her first match at the WTA Tour Championships, which start Monday at Madison Square Garden.
At Stockholm, Sweden, Thomas Enqvist held off Arnaud Boetsch in two tough sets Sunday to become the first native of this city to win the Stockholm Open in its 27-year history.
Enqvist, ranked eighth in the world and seeded second in the indoor tournament, won 7-5, 6-4 after breaking the Frenchman's serve once in each set.
"It was a dream come true when I went out and played the final," Enqvist said. "It was a very special match, a very special feeling.
The tournament moved back to its roots this year after six years across town in the 14,000-seat Globe Arena, one of Europe's finest indoor facilities but too big for a tennis tournament.
It was the fifth ATP singles title of the year for Enqvist. Three of them came in the United States.
Enqvist, 21, is the fourth Swedish winner of the Stockholm Open. Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander also won and they were all top-ranked.
Starting Tuesday, Enqvist will join Pete Sampras, Thomas Muster, Michael Chang, Boris Becker, Jim Courier, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Wayne Ferreira in the ATP World Championship in Frankfurt.
Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands edged Grant Connell and Patrick Galbraith of the United States 3-6, 6-2, 7- 6 (7-5) in the men's doubles final. It was the sixth title of the year for the top-seeded Dutch pair, who split $61,000.
At Moscow, Germany's Carl Uwe-Steeb defeated Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 7-6 (8-6) Sunday, clinching the Kremlin Cup title in a grueling 21/2-hour match.
Left-hander Uwe-Steeb caught Vacek by surprise several times Sunday. But the 6-foot-7 Vacek reacted quickly and forcefully to most of his opponent's precision serves.