Tennis: Graf looks to future

STEFFI GRAF, the women's world No 1, is to cut down on her tournament schedule, according to a report in the German newspaper, Bild, yesterday.

The paper quoted the 24- year-old as saying she wanted to devote more time to her boyfriend, the racing driver Michael Bartels, and to her designer sports clothing line which she described as 'a job with a future'.

'I still have fun playing perfect tennis, but I've achieved everything I wanted. I have no more tennis goals,' she added.

Graf, whose decision comes a day after her great rival, Martina Navratilova, announced she would play only one more season of singles, has won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments this year, giving her a total of 14.

Jeremy Bates, the former British No 1, bolstered his sagging confidence with a victory over Australia's Wally Masur in the Salem Open in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Bates, whose first-round victory over a Swedish qualifier was his first singles win for two months, gained a 6-3, 6-3 success over Masur, a semi-finalist at the US Open earlier this month. However, Chris Bailey was unable to follow his compatriot into the third round, losing 6-4 6-2 to Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman.

The biggest upset was the defeat of the top seed, the American Jim Courier, who lost 6-4, 6-3 to the unseeded Jacco Eltingh, of the Netherlands, winner of his first ATP title in Atlanta last April.

Boris Becker has decided to abide by his decision not to play in the Davis Cup final against Australia following his country's semi-final victory over Sweden.

'I wish the team all the best,' Becker said. 'I am sure that the same team will bring back the trophy to Germany for the third time.'