Top-Seeded Chang Wins; Wilander, Mayotte Upset

Looking down the road about 10 years or so, when he has reached the wizened old age of 28, Pete Sampras is pretty sure he will see the familiar, unwrinkled face of Michael Chang across the net.

Sampras knows what to expect, possibly because he will be playing someone who has been in the same racket since just about the time they escaped the playpen.

“If I’m in the top 10 then, he’ll be in the top 10, so we’ll probably have some tight battles,” Sampras said.

So far, the teen-age showdown of Chang, 17, and Sampras, 18, has been strictly no contest.

Chang, who has yet to lose a set to Sampras, won their third meeting in the pros, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0, on a cool Tuesday night at the Volvo/Los Angeles tournament at UCLA.

Aaron Krickstein, seeded fifth, won his first-round match, 7-5, 6-2, over John Fitzgerald.

The top-seeded Chang needed 1 hour 31 minutes to subdue his one-time protagonist from the juniors, to whom he would lose fairly consistently. In the pros, it has been an abrupt turnaround.

“I don’t think he’s got a mental block,” Chang said. “Pete and I are very close as players.”

Such proximity was not apparent at the French Open, their first and most meaningful showdown, which Chang won, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.

“But the score can be really deceiving sometimes,” Chang said. “It’s never going to be easy and I know I’m probably going to lose to him sooner or later.”

Chang turned the match at 5-5 in the tiebreaker when Sampras went for too big a shot on consecutive backhands and lost the set on the back-to-back errors.

After that, Chang would lose no more games.

“It was boom, boom, and a couple of minutes later, there was nothing I could do,” Sampras said.

On a busy day of first-round matches, Chang’s result was one of the few that might have been expected. At least one player marched to the beat of a different drum.

Derrick Rostagno, who travels from tournament to tournament in a 34-foot mobile home, ran over fourth-seeded Mats Wilander, 6-7 (3-7), 7-5, 6-2, in the first upset of the day.

Rostagno, 22, the son of a former member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from Brentwood, plays the piano and drums and is learning the guitar. He said he is out of practice on the piano and drums.

“It’s a little hard to travel the tour with a piano and a set of drums,” he said.

At the player’s party Monday night, Rostagno was all over the place, playing the drums and singing.

He answers to such nicknames as ‘Deke’ and ‘Skins,’ but he’s not picky.

“Whatever, whatever we need,” he said.

With his flowing black hair and his multicolored beaded necklace, Rostagno cuts a dashing figure on the tennis court, if not an eccentric one.

Rostagno had match point against Boris Becker and was within one net cord shot at match point of beating him at the U.S. Open.

But Rostagno said he did not watch Becker win the final against Lendl.

What was he doing?

“Probably water-skiing,” Rostagno said. “Or playing pool.”

Wilander continued his mysterious losing ways, which when he explained them, didn’t seem so unusual after all.

“I can’t say I’m enjoying tennis 100% of the time at the moment,” Wilander said. “It’s a job.”

Against Rostagno, Wilander led, 3-1, 30-0, and did little the rest of the way. Wilander served for the match at 5-3 and lost that game at love.

Wilander, who won three Grand Slam events last year and finished 1988 as No. 1, hasn’t won a tournament of any kind since last October. Now, Wilander is thinking about sitting out the rest of the year.

He said he is not likely to play next year’s Australian Open, which he has won three times.

Tim Mayotte’s defeat was the second upset. Mayotte, who made the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open, couldn’t make the second round Tuesday. Mayotte, ranked No. 8 in the world, was beaten, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, by 55th-ranked Andrew Sznajder of Canada, who was an All-American at Pepperdine in 1987.

Mayotte said he thinks there is a letdown period among players after the summer’s Grand Slams.

“It’s a long summer,” Mayotte said. “You gear up for the three majors and there’s a natural letdown. I do feel a little more tired.”

Mikael Pernfors, whose only Grand Prix tournament victory occurred here last year, had a none-too-easy time getting past Mark Woodforde, 4-6, 6-3, 6-5.

Woodforde is coming back from a series of leg injuries, most notably to his left calf, but Pernfors said he has got his own injury problems to worry about.

“I’ve got two injuries,” Pernfors said. “My Achilles’ tendon is sore and, of course, I still have a problem with my brain.”

This second ailment shows up at just the wrong time, Pernfors said.

“I lose my concentration and do stupid things,” he said.

Pernfors hits such exaggerated, looping topspin, the ball comes in and then drops, like a wave crashing on the beach. That was trouble enough for Woodforde, but so was keeping his balance. He fell three times.

“Tripped over my own feet, mostly,” Woodforde said.

Pernfors watched this for a long time, Woodforde’s own fall season. The last time Woodforde fell, Pernfors looked on with great interest.

“I was really hoping that he wasn’t hurt, but that he would give up,” Pernfors said.

Brad Gilbert probably should have quit, or at least conceded the first set to David Pate, but he didn’t, even though he trailed, 5-1.

“I was basically out of it,” Gilbert said.

Soon, Gilbert was very much back in it. He won 12 of the last 14 games and beat Pate, 7-5, 6-2.

Pate, 27, who won this tournament two years ago when he was ranked No. 18, has been bothered by a sore right shoulder and his ranking has dropped to No. 148.

With three consecutive tournament victories, Gilbert was the hottest player coming into the U.S. Open, where he cooled off quickly.

Todd Witsken beat Gilbert in the first round when Gilbert was sick with a virus. He didn’t feel well for five days, but he’s no longer feeling so great about his pre-Open winning streak, either.

“That’s history,” he said. “You can’t live on your last Cy Young Award.”

Notes

It was one year ago this week that John McEnroe teamed with Mark Woodforde for the first time. They won this event and won the next week at the Volvo/San Francisco tournament. McEnroe and Woodforde won their first Grand Slam title together at the U.S. Open. But because McEnroe decided not to play here this week, Woodforde needed to find a partner. He stayed in the family and got together with another McEnroe, John’s younger brother, Patrick, 23. It was a convenient arrangement. At the French Open, Patrick teamed with Jim Grabb to win the doubles title, but Grabb is injured, so McEnroe also needed a partner.

Woodforde said John McEnroe suggested that he team with Patrick to play doubles when they were all celebrating the U.S. Open victory. “John thought it would be a pretty good team,” Woodforde said. “It’ll be different, though. John was always pushing me, the communication was excellent. I think Patrick is like that as well. Maybe I’ll be playing with someone who is less likely to argue a little bit. Maybe Patrick and I will be shrugging off a little bit more.” Woodforde said he isn’t sure he needs the pressure of seeing John McEnroe in the stands watching doubles this week. Or, as Woodforde put it: “Seeing him at the side of the court ogling.” Now that he’s played with the McEnroe brothers, Woodforde was asked which McEnroe he would play doubles with next. “Kevin? God forbid,” Woodforde joked. John McEnroe’s son Kevin is 3.