Pugh, Bomb Scare No Match for Chang

His reign as king of clay officially ended, Michael Chang stepped on the fabled grass courts of Wimbledon and strolled briskly into the third round.

Nothing was going to stop him either. Not Jim Pugh, not slick grass and not even a bomb scare.

Chang, who saw the French Open trophy he won last June handed to Andres Gomez three weeks ago, dispensed with Pugh in 1 hour 33 minutes Thursday, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, shortly after play was halted for 15 minutes when a suspicious package was found on the grounds of the All England Club.

Gates were closed, play was halted on three courts, and police inspected the package, which turned out to be a camera case. David Pate of Las Vegas was preparing to serve out his match against Gilbert Raoux of France when play was stopped on Court 4.

Pate was reluctant to stop but was persuaded to do so.

“I wanted to finish,” he said. “Besides, it was on the other side of the court anyway.”

Playing on Court 3, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and partner Mercedes Paz were halted at match point in their doubles match. Sanchez Vicario quickly packed her bags, pausing only briefly on her way out to explain to the crowd: “It is a bomb, it is a bomb.”

Of course, it was not. The last real bomb found at Wimbledon was dropped on it in 1940, destroying 1,200 Centre Court seats.

Chang was in the locker room watching televised coverage of the suspicious package.

“Some guy suddenly picks it up and starts walking away,” he said. “We all laughed and said ‘What a great job to be able to defuse bombs.’ ”

On the courts, there were no scares. Top-seeded Ivan Lendl’s 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 second-round victory over Jakob Hlasek of Switzerland was not interrupted by the bomb scare. Afterward, Lendl said his quest for a Wimbledon title will not be interrupted by anything so maudlin as being labeled a sentimental favorite.

“I would rather be the villain with five titles under my belt,” he said.

Sweden’s Stefan Edberg, with one Wimbledon title under his belt, continued on the right track for another with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia.

Martina Navratilova had only one slight misstep in an otherwise routine 6-2, 6-3 victory over Anne Smith. Navratilova lost her serve trying to close out the match the first time, but not the second time.

The only other problem Navratilova had was trying to spot Chris Evert, who was sitting in the Royal Box. When Navratilova curtsied to the Royal Box before the match, she missed Evert in the third row.

“I wanted to look a little longer, but that’s not a pose you want to hold for very long,” Navratilova said.

By the time her match was over, Navratilova had seen Evert. As Navratilova curtsied again leaving the court, she stuck out her tongue at Evert.

Fourth-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina found herself stuck in a tiebreaker with Anke Huber but pulled out a 6-2, 7-6 (10-8) victory over the 15-year-old West German.

Ninth-seeded Jim Courier of Plant City, Fla., Jim Grabb of Tucson, Brad Pearce of Provo, Utah, and Pate also advanced.

Courier defeated Jason Stoltenberg of Australia, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4; Grabb defeated 1989 quarterfinalist Paul Chamberlin of Del Mar, 6-2, 6-7 (9-7), 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-3; Pearce defeated Shuzo Matsuoka of Japan, 7-6 (7-1), 7-5, 6-3, and Pate defeated Raoux 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.

Chang’s victory put him into a match against Australian Mark Kratzmann, 24, and in line for a potential fourth-round showdown against Edberg.

“That would be exciting for me,” said Chang, who hasn’t played Edberg since beating him in last year’s French Open final.

The French Open crown rested heavily on Chang’s head. After he lost to Andre Agassi in this year’s quarterfinals, he said he felt as though a weight had been lifted off him. And no longer being a defending Grand Slam champion seems to agree with Chang.

“It’s a little easier for me,” he said. “After my first match here, I was waiting for someone to get me to take me to my postmatch press conference, and no one came.

“This is different, so you know, I think it has helped me out a little bit. It’s given me some time where I can just relax a little bit more and just go out and play and not have to worry so much about being labeled as the French Open champion.”

Pugh isn’t sure Chang will be labeled the Wimbledon champion.

“At first, I would have said no, I don’t think he could, but if he’s passing that well--he doesn’t serve that well--he gives somebody trouble,” Pugh said.

“I mean, it’s going to be really hard for him without being able to serve and volley to win it on grass. But Borg did, and I guess it can be done. It’s a tough way to do it.”