Stich Has No Problem Against Bruguera : Tennis: He wins quarterfinal in 53 minutes. Chang also advances in Indian Wells tournament.

It has already been a rewarding week for Michael Stich. Not only has he reached the semifinals of the $1-million Newsweek Champions Cup, but he has also lowered his golf handicap.

It’s down to 18, reported Stich, whose brand of tennis must now be calculated in the authoritarian manner he is dictating play--his way or the fairway.

After only 53 minutes of sublime shot-making Friday, it was the fairway for Stich. The 23-year-old German dispatched quarterfinal opponent Sergi Bruguera, 6-1, 6-2, which seems par for the course. So far this week, he hasn’t dropped a set, a fact that pleases Stich to no end.

“I just forced him to make many mistakes, which was OK,” Stich said.

But golf, well, golf is better than OK, and for one very fine reason, Stich said.

“It’s a good place to go and relax . . . it’s pretty nice not to get nerved (bothered) by the press,” Stich said.

In the semifinals, the third-seeded player risks getting nerved by Andrei Chesnokov of Russia, whose 7-5, 7-5 victory over Spaniard Emilio Sanchez was delayed 76 minutes by rain with Chesnokov just two points from the finish.

Chesnokov might have closed it out before the rain, but once Sanchez felt the first few drops, he walked away from the service line and leaned against the stands until the match was called.

Sanchez couldn’t have been any more obvious if he had broken into a rain dance.

“I don’t have to hit two balls and go away,” Sanchez explained later. “I don’t have to give him any presents.”

So he didn’t. But 1 hour 16 minutes later, Sanchez hit two balls into the net and went away.

Meanwhile, Chesnokov went on to the semifinals and his fifth meeting with Stich. The series is 2-2, but they have never played outdoors.

Maybe it will make no difference since Stich is so resolute in his approach to Chesnokov . . . or anyone else for that matter.

“I know I can beat all these guys,” he said. “I don’t have worry about it.”

For once, Michael Chang had no worries in his match. He swept past Russian Andrei Cherkasov, 6-4, 6-2, his first two-set match of the tournament. But Chang said it wasn’t as simple as it looked.

“It was like a boxing match,” he said. “Jab, jab, left hook, right cross.”

Now, Chang must knock out Spanish left-hander Francisco Clavet, who eliminated Jakob Hlasek, 6-1, 6-2.

Bruguera, a Spaniard who strays from the baseline only on changeovers, could do no damage to Stich, although his intent to injure was evident once he started unveiling his chief weapon.

When struck, Bruguera’s forehand was drenched with such looping topspin, the ball bounced high enough to show up on radar at the Palm Springs airport. Eventually, the ball had to come down. At that instant, Stich sent it speeding back across the net and in the general direction of Indio.

Stich’s own destination is just as clear. As soon as his job is complete here, he will turn in his golf cart and hop a plane back to Germany for a four-week holiday. The plan is to rest his sore elbow, rest his No. 4 ranking and generally rest from the effects of playing 149 matches last year, singles and doubles combined.

Two weeks ago in Philadelphia, Stich said he was sick and tired of tennis and needed some time off, so he planned his holiday.

“I’ve played too much,” Stich said after losing to Amos Mansdorf in the third round. “I’ve reached a point where I don’t enjoy being on the court. For sure, I’m not going to be in it eight more years. I look at the guys who are 25 or 26 and they look like they’re 35.”

Soon, though, Stich will be busy again: Tokyo, Hong Kong, a week off to get ready for the clay court season, then consecutive tournaments in Munich, Hamburg, Rome and Paris for the French Open.

Then, it’s on to Wimbledon, where all the fun and excitement of being the defending champion await Stich.

And what about Wimbledon?

“Don’t start,” Stich warned.

Fine, but sometime soon he is going to run out of golf courses on which he can escape.

Tennis Notes

Third-ranked Boris Becker has accepted a wild-card bid to play in the Lipton International tournament March 13-22 in Key Biscayne, Fla. . . . Viva Espana? From Emilio Sanchez of Spain, asked how the Spanish Davis Cup team is doing: ‘Spain is doing great. Spain lost in the first round, but we are happy anyway. The last time we were in a Davis Cup final was 1967.” . . . Michael Stich is coached by Mark Lewis, brother of Chris Lewis, who works with Ivan Lendl. Chris Lewis’ other claim to fame is that he lost to John McEnroe in the 1983 Wimbledon final.