Fernandez No Longer Just Close

Tennis

Mary Joe Fernandez captured her first championship in more than two years, winning 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday when Mary Pierce’s power game vanished in the final of the German Open in Berlin.

“This was the biggest title of my career,” Fernandez said.

The 25-year-old American has reached the semifinals of four of eight tournaments she’s played in 1997, including the Australian Open.

Fernandez, largely ignored at a $927,000 tournament that featured 16 of the world’s top 20 players, also ousted No. 2 seed Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic in the semifinals.

“This was a tough field,” Fernandez said. “All the top women were here.”

Pierce is a favorite for the French Open, which begins May 26. Martina Hingis might miss the Grand Slam because of knee surgery after falling off a horse, and Steffi Graf is coming back from a three-month injury layoff.

Italian Open

Alex Corretja won a showdown of the world’s hottest clay-court players and established himself as a favorite for the French Open.

The 10th-seeded Spaniard outplayed No. 7 Marcelo Rios of Chile 7-5, 7-5, 6-3 to win the Italian Open in Rome for the biggest title of his career.

In his fourth clay-court final of the year, Corretja avenged his loss to Rios in the final of the Monte Carlo Open three weeks ago.

Corel WordPerfect Champions

At Rockville, Md., Johan Kriek upset top-seeded Jimmy Connors 6-3, 6-0 to advance to the finals of the Corel WordPerfect Champions over-35 tennis tournament.

Kriek will play Tim Wilkison in today’s championship match. Wilkison beat five-time Wimbledon champion Bjorn Borg 6-4, 6-0 to advance to his first seniors final.