Connors Advances to Final : Tennis: He beats Kriek, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, and will face Clerc for tournament title at Sherwood Country Club.

THOUSAND OAKS — The sour look your mother told you to get rid of as she sent you upstairs to bed found a home on the faces of Johan Kriek and Jimmy Connors Saturday night in the semifinals of the Digital PC Champions tournament.

Each player battled himself as much as his opponent, with Connors prevailing, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, before a sellout crowd of 2,600 at the Sherwood Country Club.

Kriek struggled early, then regained control of his serves and forehand as the match wore on. However, he could not stop Connors from advancing to today’s 1 p.m. final against Jose-Luis Clerc, a rematch of last week’s final at the Coral Champions tournament in Hilton Head, S.C., that was won by Connors.

“Johan can be off and then switch it right around,” Connors said. “In the beginning he was missing shots he had no business missing, and later on he was making shots he had no business making.”

Kriek lost the match on unforced errors that had him disgusted--and that seemed to be catching, as Connors began to struggle late in the first set.

“The first four games I was in La-La Land,” said Kriek, a two-time Australian Open champion. “But Jimmy has the best energy of any player even if he’s not playing well. He’s no different than 20 years ago.”

Connors agreed, saying his mental approach to tough match situations is the same as it’s always been.

“I missed a few and I sure didn’t like it, but as long as I’m in the trenches and don’t hear those three nasty words ‘game, set, match’ I can work it out,” said Connors, who won a 7-4 tiebreaker to lock up the first set.

Clerc upset No. 2-seed Bjorn Borg, 7-6 (9-7), 7-5, in the day’s first match.

Clerc and Peter Fleming downed Borg and Mel Purcell, 6-2, 6-3, immediately after, and will face either Tim and Tom Gullikson or Monsour Bahrami and Larry Stefanki in today’s doubles final in mid-afternoon. Clerc upended Borg by frequently pinning him to the baseline with booming serves (13 winners) and textbook ground strokes. Borg, a five-time Wimbledon champion, earned most of his points at the net.