TENNIS ROUNDUP : Chang Beats Edberg in Paris; Courier Loses but Moves Up

Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Jim Courier were eliminated Thursday in the third round of the $2-million Paris Open, but Courier still moved up to No. 2 in the world rankings.

Becker, seeded second, withdrew because of flu. Michael Chang defeated the top-seeded Edberg, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, and Omar Camporese of Italy beat the third-seeded Courier, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.

Despite losing, Courier became the highest-ranked American since John McEnroe was second on April 27, 1986.

Edberg, who had beaten Chang in three consecutive tournaments, was broken twice in the second set and fell behind, 5-0. Chang broke with a delicate lob in the fifth game of the final set and held serve to advance to a quarterfinal match against Petr Korda.

“I guess the fourth time was lucky for me,” Chang said. “Stefan has done so well but each time you learn something. I’ve become a little better each time. Stefan wasn’t at his best today, and all the better for me, and I took advantage of it.”

Edberg said he played a lot of tennis recently in winning titles in New York, Sydney and Tokyo.

“Sooner or later you begin to feel the time changes,” Edberg said. “It takes a lot of energy.”

Becker was scheduled to play Jonas Svensson of Sweden, who advanced to a quarterfinal against Karel Novacek of Czechoslovakia. Novacek beat Niklas Kulti of Sweden, 6-3, 6-2.

Becker, a two-time Paris Open winner, withdrew because of a 101-degree fever.

“He’s been sick since Saturday,” said his coach, Tomas Smid. “The flu was quite bad. He is going to his parents’ home and his mother will take care of him.”

Camporese, ranked 34th, will play fifth-seeded Guy Forget of France, who beat 12th-seeded Derrick Rostagno, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Fourth-seeded Javier Sanchez defeated Francisco Clavet, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, in a $175,000 tournament at Buzios, Brazil, and second-seeded Jordi Arrese defeated Guillermo Perez-Roldan, 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 3-1, when Perez-Roldan retired because of a thigh injury.