Boris Becker beat his old nemesis Stefan Edberg in two sets Sunday to win the Queen's grass-court tournament with the two former Wimbledon champions looking sharp in the all-important warm-up for tennis' most glamorous event.
Becker, who won the year's first Grand Slam at the Australian Open and missed the French Open with an injury, was patchy in victories leading up to the Queen's final.But in the 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) victory against Edberg, his serve was better and his backhand was lethal as he won his fourth title here in his fifth final. The win came almost 11 years to the day after Becker's first tour win - also on the Queen's surface in this West End London club.
"I can't believe it's been 11 years ago," said Becker, who has won six Grand Slams since then. "I had to be on my game today. ... Stefan was having some of the best returns of the game. Even though I had good first serves, I had to work hard on my second serve and my volleys."
The 30-year-old Edberg, who plans to retire at the end of the season, looked almost as good. He has beaten Becker in two of three Wimbledon finals - though Becker holds at 25-10 overall edge and has won eight straight - and hinted there might be another forthcoming.
"I've been playing some of the best tennis I've done for a long time," said Edberg, who has also won six Grand Slams. "I told Boris at the net, `I hope to see you in two weeks.' He said `no,' you mean three weeks."
"That would be a dream," Edberg added. "It's not that far away. If I keep doing the things I've done this week, at least I'll be a threat at Wimbledon... and hopefully I can play Boris in the finals."
Becker's victory in the first set came in just 35 minutes when he broke Edberg to go up 4-3. In that game, Edberg missed an easy volley at the net to go down 15-40 and then lost the game when Becker passed him with a backhander down the line.
Edberg let five break points slip away in the first two sets until he finally broke Becker in the 12th game of the second set at 6-6 to force the tiebreaker.
However, the tiebreaker belonged to Becker, who won all of his serves and was helped when Edberg double-faulted on the first serve in the tiebreaker.
Heineken Open
ROSMALEN, Netherlands (AP) - American Richey Reneberg stormed to a 6-4, 6-0 Sunday victory over French outsider Stephane Simian to win the Heineken Open tennis tournament.
At the start of the grass court tournament, Reneberg was seeded eighth and had a ATP tour ranking of 30 compared, to unseeded Simian's 129, and he made the difference count with a dominant all-round display in the final.
Simian forced Reneberg to save two break points as he served at 4-3 in the first set, but the experience of the 30-year-old American from Houston began to count as he went to 5-4 and 40-0.
Simian saved the first two set points, but Reneberg finished him off on the third with a backhand volley.
DFS Classic
BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) - Meredith McGrath continued her upset of the top seeds, winning Sunday's final of the DFS Classic tennis tournament, defeating No. 2-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France in three sets.
The 10th-seeded American won 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Earlier, McGrath beat No. 3-seeded Natasha Zvereva of Belarus 6-1, 6-0 and tournament favorite Brenda Schultz-McCarthy of the Netherlands 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
"I came into this tournament wanting to win my first round," said the 25-year-old McGrath. "I've done over and above what I wanted to do, and I'm just thrilled."
McGrath, who is based in Zurich but plans to move back to Michigan this summer, is rebuilding her career after injury. She had hip surgery in 1991 and a year later injured her shoulder. Tendinitis in her left heel plagued her last season.
Maia Open-Oporto Cup
OPORTO, Portugal (AP) - Spain's Felix Mantilla clinched his first ATP title with a hard-fought victory over sixth-seeded Hernan Gumy of Argentina in the final Sunday of the Maia Open-Oporto Cup.
The 22-year-old Mantilla came from behind to win 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-3 over Gumy, who was also vying for his first ATP title on the clay courts of the Maia Tennis Complex.
Both players showed a high degree of consistency and delivered an entertaining match, but Gumy could not keep up with Mantilla after he edged the Spaniard out in the first-set tie breaker.