Champions Cup Tennis : Michael Chang, 16, Almost Ousts Mansdorf

The new-and-improved tennis game of 16-year-old Michael Chang was unveiled at the $702,500 Newsweek Champions Cup here Monday, and its owner ended up liking the look of this new style far better than the final result.

Chang was two points away from upsetting No. 11-seeded Amos Mansdorf of Israel in the second set and had a 3-1, 40-love lead in the third before losing, 2-6, 7-5, 7-6, in a first-round match at Grand Champions Resort.

Unlike his previous appearances in professional tournaments in Southern California, Chang played aggressively, hitting his serve with more pace and rushing the net on short balls.

“In juniors, more often on the big points, it’s whoever misses first loses the point,” said Chang, who turned professional last month and who turned 16 last week. “Here, if they get a good approach shot, you’re dead. In this game, there’s no room for a defensive player.”

Which is why the Changs, taking note of the difficulty that players such as Aaron Krickstein and Jimmy Arias have had in making the transition to an all-around game, realize the importance of escaping the one-dimensional trap while they still can.

Said Chang:

“No one is going to go straight to the top. It took eight years for (Ivan) Lendl to get up there.”

Joe Chang, Michael’s father, is also patient, looking ahead one to two years, rather than one to two months.

“I think if he had played conservatively, he would have won,” said Joe Chang. “We have a different concept, trying to control the tempo. He played aggressively today, much more aggressively than in Los Angeles (last September). He was serving much better and volleying better, too.”

Still, Michael Chang realized what a victory over the No. 27-ranked Mansdorf might have meant, saying, after all, he is out there to win.

“Afterward, I heard some people gossiping in the locker room,” said Chang, who lives in Placentia. “Saying stuff like, ‘Chang was up 3-1, 40-love. Chang blew it.’ ”

So, what was his response?

“I guess everyone has different points of view,” he said, shrugging.

The Eagle has landed: No, not the Eddie Edwards of Winter Olympics fame.

Here, in a first-round match Monday, Tim Wilkison defeated Eddie Edwards, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3. Eddie Edwards, the tennis player, is from South Africa and was a three-time All-American at Pepperdine. He reached a No. 42 world ranking in 1986 but slipped to No. 249 by the end of 1987.

Notes

The top eight seeded players weren’t in action Monday. No. 9 David Pate and No. 10 Eliot Teltscher advanced. In other first-round matches, Mark Woodforde of Australia defeated No. 14 Peter Lundgren of Sweden, 7-6, 6-3, and Aaron Krickstein advanced with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over No. 16 Jimmy Arias. . . . Amateur Pete Sampras, a high school junior from Rancho Palos Verdes, upset Ramash Krishnan, who’s ranked 37th in the world, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6. Krishnan, 26, of Madras, India, who was unseeded, had the 16-year-old Sampras at match point five times in the third-set tiebreaker. But Sampras kept breaking back and took the final three points to win the match.