Chang Flounders in Defeat to Cherkasov : Tennis: His spirit was willing but his flesh was weak, he says after 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 loss to Soviet in U.S. Open. Becker and Agassi also advance.

By Saturday, there were two Israelis, one Soviet and zero Swedes left in the men’s draw of the U.S. Open.

That Soviet, 20-year-old Andrei Cherkasov, a right-handed baseliner from Ufa, took care of Michael Chang in straight sets to trim the number of Americans left in the fourth round to six.

All in all, it was a strange day at the Open, where matches went swimmingly for such players as Boris Becker, Andre Agassi and Aaron Krickstein, but Goran Ivanisevic tanked.

Chang was one of those who could not keep his head above water.

After reaching the fourth round last year, Chang fell a rung short this time and lost to Cherkasov, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.

Chang, who saved three match points before falling, said he felt strangely unable to do the job on the court.

“My heart was there, but my body couldn’t stay with my heart, so to speak,” Chang said.

Cherkasov, a history buff, quickly placed his victory over Chang into perspective: “Best match of my career.”

Becker, whose career is full of great matches, won his third-round match over Tomas Carbonell, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

Agassi, the bearded one, moved into the fourth round with a victory, but it was not close, certainly by more than whisker.

Agassi swamped Franco Davin in three progressively easier sets, 7-5, 6-4, 6-0, then launched into a lively post-match discussion of his day-old, $3,000 fine, his beard, his clothes and the Davis Cup.

While Agassi did not dispute the amount of the fine, he blamed chair umpire Wayne McKewen for escalating the incident during Thursday night’s match against Petr Korda.

Agassi was fined for unsportsmanlike conduct after swearing and spitting in the direction of McKewen.

“I felt like I didn’t deserve the warning and I got one,” Agassi said.

“In that sense, I felt like he was looking for it. He was looking to give me a warning.

“I just don’t need someone in the chair who either has something personal against me or is really looking to throw me down however he can,” Agassi said.

“I really felt things were personal out there on the court from the umpire towards me.”

Agassi also said he told Grand Slam Supervisor Ken Farrar the incident would not have happened if someone besides McKewen was in the umpire’s chair. Farrar responded by saying that Agassi’s comments were unwarranted and off-base.

Then Agassi took on the important matters, beginning with his beard. Agassi, who showed up here with a full beard, said he will probably shave should he reach the semifinals.

“I just wake up one morning and it might be gone,” he said.

As for his new tennis clothes, they are staying, said Agassi, who is planning on wearing the neon-and-black outfits when he plays in the Davis Cup semifinal against Austria: “That’s what America is about.”

Agassi concluded his remarks when he seemed to close the door slightly whether he will play Davis Cup in the future.

“I don’t know if I’ll be playing it in years to come,” Agassi said.

And why is that?

“I don’t really feel like a team player,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ivanisevic didn’t feel much like playing the fifth set of his third-round match with Darren Cahill . . . so he tanked.

Cahill was not amused: “I think it was a pretty gutless effort, to be honest . . . he virtually gave me the match.”

Ivanisevic won only four points on his serve in the fifth set and lost after winning the first two sets, 4-6, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), 6-0.

“I try first game, then it’s tanking,” Ivanisevic explained simply. “I’m not trying. I just wanted to finish the match.”

Cahill could scarcely believe his eyes as he watched Ivanisevic serve, then stand and look at the ball as the return bounced a few feet away.

“I don’t know why, really,” Ivanisevic said.

Pressed for further explanation, Ivanisevic offered one: “I went crazy.”

As a result of his defeat, Ivanisevic missed a chance to play Becker for the third time in the last three Grand Slam events. Ivanisevic beat Becker in the first round of the French Open, but lost to him in the Wimbledon semifinals.

Farrar issued a statement Saturday night in which he said he was convinced Ivanisevic misconstrued the word “tanking,” and that Ivanisevic was instead mentally beaten. Farrar chose to take no disciplinary action against Ivanisevic.

Aaron Krickstein, who lost to Becker in the semifinals last year, scored a narrow, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2) victory over Pat Cash and will meet Amos Mansdorf in the fourth round.

Mansdorf needed even longer--4 hours 4 minutes--to edge eighth-seeded Brad Gilbert, 7-5, 7-5, 6-3, 7-5, 6-1. Gilbert, who complained of leg cramps in the fifth set, could not sit down after the match.

“I just ran out of gas,” Gilbert said.