Tennis Roundup : Chang Ranks No. 6 After French Win

Michael Chang, the Southern California teen-ager whose resolve on center court helped him become the first U.S. male since 1955 to win the French Open tennis championship, moved to sixth in the world in Monday’s Assn. of Tennis Professionals computer rankings.

Chang, from Placentia, was ranked No. 19 before the French Open, a clay-court tournament in which the 17-year-old upset No. 1-ranked Ivan Lendl in the fourth round last Monday after losing the first two sets. Chang defeated Ronald Agenor of Haiti in the quarterfinals, Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union in the semifinals and Stefan Edberg of Sweden in Sunday’s final.

Despite the upset, Lendl remained No. 1, followed by Boris Becker, who lost to Edberg in the semifinals at Paris. Edberg remained third, and Andre Agassi was No. 4, the highest rated U.S. player. Mats Wilander of Sweden was No. 5, Thomas Muster of Austria No. 7, John McEnroe No. 8, Jakob Hlasek of Switzerland No. 9 and Tim Mayotte No. 10.

Kevin Curren and Mayotte had little trouble defeating fellow Americans to reach the second round of the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament at London.

Mayotte, seeded fourth, overcame Matt Anger, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7), after saving a set point in the tiebreaker. Curren, seeded fifth, outlasted doubles specialist Robert Seguso, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

While Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver prepared for comebacks, 11th-seeded Kathy Rinaldi outlasted Masako Yanagi of Japan, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, in a first-round match at a grass-court tournament at Edgbaston, England.

Navratilova, ranked second in the world, skipped the clay-court season and will begin her Wimbledon preparations this week at Edgbaston, in the suburbs of Birmingham.

King, 45, is coming out of a four-year retirement to play doubles and work with Navratilova.

Shriver, who has not played singles since April, said she hopes to regain her enthusiasm before Wimbledon.

“I needed to take a pause after playing for 10 years,” she said. “I don’t know if my appetite is back, but I spent four hours on court practicing on Sunday.”