Chang Looks at Home in Win Over Sampras

Michael Chang and Pete Sampras, who live about 30 miles from one another, traveled more than 7,000 miles to play a match in France that lasted less than two hours Thursday.

Youth was served and youth returned serve in a second-round French Open match between two 17-year-olds from Southern California, rivals of long standing. Chang won, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.

Even though this was their first meeting as pros, it was actually just the latest in a series of confrontations between the former junior rivals, Chang from Placentia and Sampras from Rancho Palos Verdes.

The red clay center court of Roland Garros is a long way from home for two youths who might be cramming for a final exam were it not for their uncanny abilities to swing tennis rackets. If Chang swung his racket better this day, Sampras said that’s the way it goes in his chosen line of work.

“I’m a kid in an adult world now,” said Sampras, who thought about what things would be like if he led a “normal” life.

“It would be ordinary,” he said. “I’d go to college, get a degree, just get a job, get married, buy a house and settle down.”

Neither Sampras nor Chang has chosen to lead an ordinary life, and their talents suggest that their tennis careers may become something special. Although it may seem that their very youth might set them apart from their tennis peers, Chang said that is not the case.

“No one cares how old you are, they just want to beat your guts out,” he said. “I might not feel that way if I would play someone younger than myself, but I never do.”

In fact, Chang is getting closer to a possible meeting with Ivan Lendl. Lendl is 29, but the more important number is his No. 1 ranking.

On the fourth day of the French Open, the weather shifted from bright sunshine to gray clouds, and if there was a small chance of rain, there didn’t appear to be even a slight chance of Lendl’s being upset in his second-round match.

The top-seeded men’s player defeated Derrick Rostagno of Brentwood, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1. Lendl and Chang will meet, should they win their third-round matches.

In a battle that matched the longest hair in the tournament, Andre Agassi, with his bleached blond mane, defeated Italy’s Palo Cane, with his jet black locks, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.

Defending champion Mats Wilander of Sweden defeated Diego Perez of Uruguay, 6-3, 7-6 (7-0), 6-3, and kept alive a potential showdown with Agassi in the quarterfinals.

There was one upset in the women’s singles. Manon Bollegraf of Holland defeated 12th-seeded Lori McNeil, 6-2, 6-1. Zina Garrison, seeded fourth, dropped the first set to Cathy Caverzasio of Italy, but came back to win, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, and sixth-seeded Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria defeated Sandra Wasserman of Belgium, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

The going was much easier for seventh-seeded Arantxa Sanchez of Spain, who eliminated Isabelle Demongeot of France, 6-4, 6-4. Sanchez is making her way toward a possible semifinal meeting with second-seeded Gabriela Sabatini.

Nothing came easily for Sampras, who grew up idolizing Rod Laver and playing Michael Chang. They met more than a dozen times as juniors and split the last two times they played.

“I’m not really jealous of the success Michael and Andre (Agassi) have had because sooner or later, I’ll get it,” Sampras said. “The game I have, serve and volley, I think it’ll take me farther. I can win Wimbledon.”

But so far in their young careers, Chang has had the greater impact. In 1987 at Scottsdale, Ariz., then 15-year-old Michael Chang was the youngest semifinalist in Grand Prix history. His ranking has since improved to No. 18, barely higher than his age.

Sampras, ranked 92nd, said he may be closer to Chang than can be explained by numbers.

Before the French Open, they both went to Palm Springs to practice on clay under the guidance of Jose Higueras. They also fished together and ate together. Once they walked onto center court here, though, the familiarity ended.

“We were such rivals before, it was a different feeling--it wasn’t another player, it was an archrival I was playing,” Sampras said.

Chang didn’t share that particular feeling, instead empathizing with Sampras.

“It was really hard for Pete to be on center court,” he said. “All of a sudden, you walk out on this huge court, one of the biggest, huge crowds, and it really makes you nervous.

“I remember when I played McEnroe here last year. The crowd went crazy when he walked on the court and I came in behind him. I felt like I was the guy carrying his rackets.”

One year later, the experience was different. Chang felt comfortable on center court, digging his tennis shoes into the kind of clay you can’t find in Orange County and playing someone his own age.

“You just go out there and play whomever,” Chang said. “I don’t see myself as a 17-year-old.”

That is what he is, however, and neither miles nor red clay can separate him from his age and the longtime rival he beat on center court.

Tennis Notes

The top-seeded men’s doubles team of Rick Leach and Jim Pugh went out in the first round, losing to Alex Antonitsch of Austria and Ricki Osterthun of West Germany, 6-2, 6-4. Leach and Pugh, winners of the Australian Open, had hoped the French Open would be another step in their quest to win the doubles Grand Slam.

“It could be the worst match we’ve ever played,” Pugh said. “I don’t know what it was.” Pugh added that he is hoping he and Leach can put the defeat behind them and prepare for Wimbledon. “It’s obviously not going to help to remember this one,” Pugh said. “It would just have been nice to have confidence going into Wimbledon.” . . . In a battle of Floridians, 18-year-old Jim Courier of Dade City defeated Jimmy Brown of Largo, 6-0, 7-5, 6-1. Courier will play Andre Agassi in the third round. Courier said he thinks the trend in the United States is for players to turn pro as teen-agers instead of playing tennis in college. “The path is to come right out today,” Courier said. “You figure you are going to have X amount of years to be successful and you figure you don’t play too well past 30--(Jimmy) Connors being the exception. So if you go to college and come out when you’re 22, you won’t be an experienced pro until you are 25. That’s not a lot of time left. You get your experience now and be ready to play when you’re 20.” . . . Seventh-seeded Tim Mayotte’s match with Ronald Agenor of Haiti was halted because of darkness with Mayotte leading, two sets to one in the fourth set.