NAVRATILOVA WINS 158TH SINGLES TITLE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 17, 1992                   TAG: 9202170174
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
NAVRATILOVA WINS 158TH SINGLES TITLE
Martina Navratilova became tennis' all-time singles titles leader Sunday by narrowly beating Jana Novotna 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 7-5 in the finals of the Virginia Slims of Chicago tennis tournament.
"I was preparing my loser's speech during the match," Navratilova said. "I had to tell myself I could come back. I said, `If I can't break the record in Chicago, where can I break it?' "
Navratilova won her 158th career singles championship and 12th Chicago Slims crown. She and Chris Evert, who retired in 1989, had been tied with 157 singles titles. Jimmy Connors is the men's all-time leader with 109 singles championships.
Navratilova, who doesn't plan to retire soon, said she was thinking about winning the match, not history against Novotna.
"The moment took over the history part. I was just trying to win the match and I had to start hitting winners," said Navratilova, 35, a dozen years older than her opponent.
Novotna, now 0-6 against Navratilova, used her blazing serve and some daring passing shots to the corners to move ahead 5-4 in the deciding set. She forced Navratilova, the No. 2 seed, to match-point twice in the 10th game.
But the veteran rallied and the third-seed Novotna double faulted to lose her service.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB