Streaking Chang <i> the </i> Player at the Players : Tennis: He beats Mancini in straight sets for his fourth championship in a row.

And now, introducing the hottest player in the high-octane, super-charged, power-swatting sport of tennis . . .

Michael Chang?

It’s true. Chang, all 5 feet 8 of him, made short work of Alberto Mancini, 7-5, 7-5, Sunday to win his third tournament of the year in the final of the Lipton International Players Championship.

For Chang, it was a continuation of a success story that hasn’t necessarily taken the men’s game by storm, but has at least served notice that the 1989 French Open champion is back on track at the ripe old age of 20.

Even Mancini is impressed by the new Chang.

“He is at a great moment,” Mancini said. “Mentally, he’s very strong now. Maybe at this period, he’s the toughest.”

The victory, which was worth $197,000, also extended Chang’s winning streak to a personal best of 12 consecutive matches. He now has won his last four finals--Birmingham, England, in November, then Volvo/San Francisco, Newsweek Champions Cup at Indian Wells and now the Lipton.

“I don’t know, I’ve never been labeled as the hottest player on the pro tour, (so) it’s a new feeling,” Chang said.

“After I won the French Open, I wasn’t like the hottest player, I was just the new guy in town that’s making a splash.”

Hardly an extrovert, Chang is also showing signs of exuberance on the court. He even double-pumped his fist in the last game after running down a drop shot and eventually winning the point when Mancini’s lob drifted long.

“I was pumped,” Chang said.

Down a break early in both sets, Chang bounced back. He put himself in position to break Mancini and secure the victory when he held for 6-5, closing out the game with an ace.

After finishing fast in 1991 when he was 18-5 from mid-August on, Chang is 20-3 in 1992 and will be ranked No. 6 when the revised computer list is released today.

It was not exactly the final most were expecting. Three days after the ATP conducted a much-ballyhooed seminar on the impending threat of so-called “power tennis,” who shows up in the final but a couple of gnats?

Once the big hitters began their exit, the sixth-seeded Chang became the highest seeded player in the field by default.

Actually, Chang was responsible for putting two of them out--Pete Sampras in the quarterfinals and Jim Courier in the semifinals. Mancini, seeded 20th, was the one who ousted third-seeded Boris Becker in a three-set quarter-final.

Mancini’s appearance in the final signaled his apparent re-emergence as a marquee player. After winning Monte Carlo in 1989 on his way to the No. 8 ranking, his name was in lights. It was subsequently extinguished because of poor play and injuries and Mancini fell all the way to No. 127.

Now Mancini is back in the top 20 and might be as high as No. 16 when the weekly rankings are announced today.

“I am just feeling great now and trying to get into the top 10,” said Mancini, who is setting his sights on the French Open, where he twice reached the fourth round.

As for Chang, he packed his bags for a trip to Los Angeles to shoot a Reebok commercial, then it’s off to Beijing and Taipei to play exhibitions.

Maybe he can become the hottest player in Asia, too.

Lipton signed an agreement to remain the title sponsor of the International Players Championship, which is expecting construction of its $20.5-million permanent stadium to begin April 1.

The 14,000-seat stadium is scheduled to be completed Feb. 1, 1993.

The facility, financed by a tourism tax, will be owned by Dade County and leased to the tournament.