SILENT NIGHT : McEnroe, Wilander Are Ousted in U.S. Open

Who is Paul Haarhuis?

“I come from Mars,” he said.

Haarhuis, a 23-year-old qualifier from Eindhoven, the Netherlands, scored Wednesday night’s biggest tennis upset on earth.

And then, only three hours later, Pete Sampras, 18, from Rancho Palos Verdes tried to match it.

All Sampras did was knock off the reigning U.S. Open champion, Mats Wilander.

All Haarhuis did was eliminate four-time champion John McEnroe.

It was a night of upsets at the 109th U.S. Open, where 19 minutes into Thursday, New York time, Sampras finally finished Wilander, 5-7, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4.

And all at once, the name Haarhuis became important. It’s pronounced HAR-WHO-IS. Now, the emphasis is even more on the WHO.

McEnroe, who tried and failed before the match to find anybody in the locker room who knew anything about Haarhuis, was strangely at a near-loss for words to explain his 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 second-round loss.

“I just couldn’t think,” McEnroe said. “I just couldn’t do anything. It was just one of those days you just hope you don’t have in your whole career.

“I can’t think of the last time I played that poorly for an entire match. I’ve got no one to blame but myself.”

Wilander felt much the same way.

“I played a terrible match,” he said. “Obviously (Sampras) made me play bad, but I think it’s more my own fault.”

Sampras, a successful player in the juniors but one who has spent his professional career volleying in Michael Chang’s shadows, warded off four break points in the final game before he ended Wilander’s misery with a service winner.

Sampras, who said he “choked” when he double-faulted on his first match point, won his most important match on his second match point as Wilander returned the high-kicking first serve long.

“I don’t want to say it’s a dream come true, but it hasn’t hit me yet,” Sampras said.

“At the start, I didn’t really believe it myself that I could beat Mats Wilander.”

McEnroe found himself unable to fully correct his first-set inadequacies, which included missing all eight of the break-point chances he had against Haarhuis.

McEnroe had eight aces, as did Haarhuis, but made only 51% of his first serves and won only 59% of the points when he advanced to the net.

And while McEnroe struggled with his service games, Haarhuis won his in a breeze.

Haarhuis, who had nearly twice as many winners as McEnroe, served for the match after McEnroe double faulted at break point in the 11th game of the fourth set.

An emphatic forehand volley winner ended the match after 3 hours 19 minutes. Haarhuis found it difficult to express his good fortune.

“I feel very good,” he said. “I don’t know what to think. I’m just very happy.”

Ranked No. 460 in January and up to No. 115, Haarhuis attended Armstrong (Ga.) State College in 1984-86 before he transferred to Florida State for two years.

In his senior year at Tallahassee, Haarhuis was ranked among the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.’s top 30; he earned a degree in economics last spring.

Haarhuis, who qualified in his first Grand Slam event at the French Open, advanced to the third round before losing to Alberto Mancini.

But never before had he managed a victory of such magnitude as upsetting the world’s fourth-ranked player. If McEnroe knew nothing about Haarhuis, Haarhuis knew all about McEnroe.

“I’ve seen him play many times on TV,” Haarhuis said. “He’s one of the all-time greats of tennis.”

McEnroe said he allowed himself to become distracted at the Open, which is easy but can also produce disastrous results.

“To lose to a guy I haven’t even seen play before, it’s pretty bad,” McEnroe said. “This is a tough one to swallow.”

A few hours earlier, Chang was breathing easier.

If this is the U.S. Open, which it is, then Chang must be playing Tim Wilkison, which he was.

Chang met Wilkison in a first-round match on the same court where they played last year, which seemed odd to Chang.

“It’s always in your mind . . . you see him coming in and you think you’re in a dream,” Chang said.

When Chang closed his eyes last year, he saw himself beating Wilkison to reach the round of 16. Nothing much changed this time, except that the match was two sets shorter and two rounds earlier.

Clouds gave way to bright sunshine Wednesday, which was a hot day at the U.S. Open but just opening day for Chang.

The seventh-seeded player began his march toward a potential fourth-round match against Tim Mayotte, his Wimbledon conqueror, by continuing his once-every-Open series against Wilkison. He won, 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.

Chang’s match was carried over from Tuesday night because of a rainstorm that had also delayed top-seeded Ivan Lendl from completing his first-round match, which he did swiftly Wednesday morning.

Lendl had no problems defeating Diego Perez of Uruguay, 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, but second-seeded Boris Becker needed 4 hours 26 minutes and five sets to turn back Derrick Rostagno of Brentwood.

Becker, who saved two match points in the fourth-set tiebreaker, avoided losing in the second round, as he did last year, with a decidedly uphill 1-6, 6-7 (7-1), 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 victory.

The match turned on one lucky shot, and Becker knew it.

“The guardian angel helped me, but he came a bit late,” Becker said.

Becker saved his second match point, trailing, 6-5, in the tiebreaker when he hit a forehand and the ball tipped the net cord on its way over, forcing Rostagno to change his stroke in a futile effort to come up with it.

Becker said Rostagno had read his shot and was in perfect position to volley a winner.

“The only chance I had to win that point was to hit the tape,” Becker said.

Rostagno, who put up little resistence after he lost the tiebreaker, said he was done in by a freaky shot.

“If that didn’t use up all of his luck, nothing would,” Rostagno said.

“That was the turning point of the match,” he said. “He probably had the feeling that nothing could go wrong after that.”

Coming back from an 0-2 deficit for a second time at the Open, Becker said the match reminded him of his recent Davis Cup victory over Andre Agassi, when he won the last three sets.

Becker explained that his slow start was because of a lack of motivation.

“After so many highlights in the year, it’s very, very difficult to fire myself up for the U.S. Open,” Becker said. “You go out on the court without any great motivation, especially in the second round with Derrick Rostagno.

“Usually, it’s a match over in four sets.”

Chang needed only three to stop Wilkison, a crowd-pleasing extrovert, who went down hard last year after he won the first two sets.

If last year’s match was important for Chang--he was regarded as too frail for five sets--this one was ordinary. Wilkison thought so, especially after the first set.

“He’s a better player than last year,” Wilkison said. “For that matter, he’s a better player than I am, obviously. He’s still got those real good passing shots. He’s got the same game, just a better one.”

It might have been different if Wilkison had been able to pull out the first set, which he led, 2-0, and 5-4. Wilkison had one set point, but Chang’s down-the-line backhand winner at break point saved him.

Then Chang discovered a groove with his shots, for which he was grateful after he lost some of his edge by taking 2 1/2 weeks off following Wimbledon.

Lendl needed only to hold serve to win when play resumed with him leading Perez, 2-0, in the third set. Regardless of his opponents the rest of the way (perhaps including Mayotte or Chang in the quarterfinals), Lendl said his confidence will be running high.

“I feel that if I play well I can beat anyone,” Lendl said.