Tennis Roundup : Kriek Upsets McEnroe, Plays Chang in Today’s S.F. Final

Johan Kriek upset third-seeded John McEnroe, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, Saturday night in the $415,000 TransAmerica Open tennis tournament in San Francisco and will meet 16-year-old Michael Chang in the today’s final.

Chang moved into his first Grand Prix final by defeating Danie Visser, 7-5, 6-4.

Kriek broke McEnroe with a forehand passing shot in the 10th game of the third set and went on to win the 2 1/2-hour serve-and-volley duel.

Kriek has beaten McEnroe 3 times in the 4 matches they have played in the tournament since their first meeting in 1980.

Meanwhile, the unseeded Chang, who turned pro in February and is ranked 36th in the world, fought off a stiff challenge in the first set by Visser, a qualifier from South Africa who is the world’s 231st-ranked player.

“But every game was close,” said Chang, of Placentia. “Two sets in two hours, that’s tough.”

The left-handed Visser, 27, used his serve effectively and attacked Chang’s at every opportunity.

The only service break of the second set came in the ninth game when Visser failed to handle Chang’s powerful service returns.

“I never played anyone that quick,” Visser said. “I thought I played the game the right way, though. I should have been more aggressive maybe, but he was passing unbelievably well.”

In Palermo, Sicily, top-seeded Mats Wilander of Sweden easily beat Guillermo Perez-Roldan of Argentina, 6-2, 6-2, and fellow Swede Kent Carlsson, seeded second, edged Austria’s Thomas Muster, 7-6, 7-5, to gain the final of the $123,400 Sicilian championship.