Noah stuns Lendl, faces Agassi in final

Yannick Noah of France, seeded fourth, upset top-ranked IvanLendl of Czechoslovakia 6-3, 6-2 in 59 minutes Saturday to reachtoday's final of the $190,000 Norstar Hamlet Challenge Cup inJericho, N.Y.

In the final, Noah will meet No. 2 seed Andre Agassi, at 18 theworld's fourth-ranked player. Agassi, of Las Vegas, reached thetitle match by stopping third-seeded Boris Becker of West Germany 7-6(7-1), 6-3.

Agassi, winner of six tournaments this year, has won 21consecutive matches in taking three straight titles and gaining thefinal against Noah.

Lendl, who begins the U.S. Open tomorrow as three-time defendingchampion, shrugged off his loss. "Losing to Yannick will have noeffect at all," he said. "This tournament is preparation. I've hadgood matches. He played good and if I played my best now I'd beworried."

Noah, who served 11 aces, said, "I haven't served this well in along time."

UNITED JERSEY BANK: Steffi Graf won her 27th straight match and gained a place in the finals of the $200,000 tournament inMahwah, N.J., with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Helena Sukova.

West Germany's Graf, the No. 1 ranked player, overpowered Sukova,of Czechoslovakia. Graf swept the first five games and the last sixin the 50-minute semifinal.

In today's final she will face unseeded Nathalie Tauziat ofFrance, who upset fifth-seeded Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-3.

NYNEX OPEN: Ramesh Krishnan of India, the No. 2 seed, overtookNo. 5 Horacio de la Pena of Argentina 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to gain the finalin the $123,400 tournament in Rye Brook, N.Y. Krishnan, India's No. 1player, and winner of six ATP Grand Prix titles, will opposefourth-seeded Milan Srejber of Czechoslovakia in today's final.

WILMINGTON CLASSIC: Emilio Sanchez of Spain defeated Dan Goldie6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to move into the final of the $52,000 tournament inWilmington, Del. Sanchez will meet Kevin Curren, who reached today'sfinal by beating Michael Chang 6-2, 6-4.