Things Look Gloomy for U.S., but Chang Keeps Hopes Alive : Tennis: Austrian Skoff has one-set edge in Davis Cup semifinal when last match is halted by darkness. Muster polishes off Agassi in three sets.

Michael Chang rallied to keep sagging U.S. Davis Cup hopes alive with a third-set victory over fired-up Austrian Horst Skoff before darkness postponed the conclusion of their match Sunday.

Vienna’s dreary climate permitting, the match will resume this afternoon with Chang trailing Skoff, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6. The winner places his team in the finals against Australia in November.

The 18-year-old Chang was put in the do-or-die role after Andre Agassi lost in straight sets to Austrian clay master Thomas Muster, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2), in the first of the two rain-delayed matches Sunday afternoon. The Austrian extended his Davis Cup record on clay to 24-0.

Muster’s one-sided victory in front of 18,000 Austrian fans, including President Kurt Waldheim, transported tiny Austria into a state of sports frenzy old-timers said has not been equaled since Austrian skier Franz Klammer won a gold medal in the 1976 Winter Olympics at Innsbruck in the downhill.

Skoff, 22, picked up the winning mood by jumping to an early lead over the obviously nervous and tentative Chang. Skoff, using a powerful forehand to control play, broke the American on his first two services and cruised to a first set victory in just 37 minutes.

In the second set, Chang had an opening early when he broke Skoff’s service in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead. However, Skoff broke back at love in the next game and the two held serve until the tiebreaker, which Skoff won, 7-4, with a powerful serve.

That put Chang, and the United States, one set away from defeat in the best-of-five semifinal series, now tied at 2-2 pending the results of Chang’s match with Skoff. The United States has not been in the finals of the Davis Cup since 1984 against Sweden. It has not won since the 1983 match against France.

“I’m just glad not to be leaving Vienna before Tuesday,” said U.S. Captain Tom Gorman. He said Chang was relaxed and smiling after the crucial third-set victory that kept the U.S. in competition.

In the 56-minute third set, Chang’s game began to pick up pace. He broke Skoff’s service in the third game with a driving forehand down the line. After a grueling 25-stroke rally in the final game of the set evened the score at deuce, Chang hit another winning forehand and then watched Skoff’s final shot go deep.

Play was called at the conclusion of the third set after chair umpire Raymond Dombrecht decided that not enough light remained in the overcast late afternoon sky to begin another set.

Austrian Captain Filip Krajcik said the overnight break will benefit Skoff, who was clearly fatigued and beginning to miss shots wide and long as Chang’s methodical game came into focus.

Agassi, who was gracious after losing final matches this year at the French and U.S. Opens, continued that trend Sunday. He praised Muster as a “class player” who deserved to win.

However, he said he was hampered in the match because he was not able to practice since his straight-set victory Friday over Skoff. The Davis Cup organizers, he said, gave him a Sunday morning practice time that was too early, 9 a.m., to fit into his training schedule. As a result, Agassi played Muster, a tough left-hander ranked No. 7 in the world, without hitting a tennis ball since his easy victory over right-hander Skoff.

Consequently, it took Agassi three sets to get into his game and then it was too late. After losing meekly in the first two sets, he pushed Muster into a tiebreaker in the third, but was beaten in that, too.

Agassi made 58 unforced errors compared to 33 for Muster. That was the difference, since both players hit the same number of winners, 27.

Agassi seemed genuinely hurt by the loss, calling it more personally disappointing than either of his French or U.S. Open defeats.

“In a Grand Slam final,” he said, “the only person you let down is yourself. Here you have your entire country back home watching.”

He said he offered a little advice to teammate Chang before the deciding match. “I just told him that when the crowd erupts and goes crazy it’s real bad but just listen to the beat in your heart and know there is a fighter in there.”