Connors Blows Out More Than Candles : U.S. Open: On his 40th birthday, he routs Oncins, setting up his next match with Lendl, who barely advances.

The U.S. Open began at 40 for Jimmy Connors, who celebrated his birthday Wednesday, then blew out Jaime Oncins like so many candles.

Usually in tennis, the only time you hear the number 40, it’s in a game score, as in 40-love, but before a sellout crowd of 20,741, the 40-year-old Connors celebrated his 22nd U.S. Open with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 decision.

Immediately after Oncins knocked a ball into the stands at match point, Connors twirled his racket like a drum major, then celebrated in usual way: He had a birthday cake.

Carried out on the court and placed on a table with a blue tablecloth, the cake was rectangular, slightly smaller than the area between the net and the service line, but decorated with an outline of a racket with a caricature of him in the middle.

“It seems like I’ve been playing here forever,” Connors said. “I never thought I’d be playing when I was 40.”

Connors, who finds a partner in his old-timers’ crusade when he plays 32-year-old Ivan Lendl in the second round, dominated Oncins from the outset. He won in 1 hour 50 minutes.

That qualified as a breeze, probably helped along by the fact that Oncins injured his right hand when he fell in the second game after a stab volley.

Oncins’ best tactics were probably the drop shots with which he tormented Connors, who moved at about the same pace as the sun sinking behind the Manhattan skyline.

After scoring with one successful drop shot, Connors shook his finger at Oncins.

From the moment they walked out onto the court, Connors seemed to be the nervous one while Oncins smiled and laughed.

A brace of TV cameras caught Connors, tight-lipped, as he walked through the tunnel out into the bright lights of Stadium Court, continuing a mood usually reserved for the entrance of the heavyweight champion before a title fight.

And Connors hasn’t been heavyweight champion for a very long time--he hasn’t been No. 1 since 1978 and hasn’t won a Grand Slam event since the U.S. Open nine years ago.

But the mood held as a wave swept through the stands, followed by the fans serenading Connors with “Happy Birthday.”

Connors did his own celebrating on the court. After 63 minutes, he was already two sets ahead of Oncins, a 22-year-old Brazilian playing his second match at the U.S. Open.

Connors was playing his 114th, more than anyone. His 98th victory is a men’s U.S. Open record.

Next on Friday night for Connors is Lendl, who has reached the semifinals or better at every U.S. Open since 1982 except for 1990. But this time, Lendl very nearly didn’t make the second round.

Jaime Yzaga made Lendl work 4 hours 23 minutes before falling, 6-7 (7-2), 6-1, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, in what easily rates as the most monotonous match of the tournament.

In one of the most compelling, Emilio Sanchez came from a set down to knock off sixth-seeded Petr Korda, 6-2, 4-6, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), in 3 hours 26 minutes.

Seldom straying from the baseline, Yzaga and Lendl combined to commit a staggering 163 unforced errors--81 by Lendl, who after 263 minutes of tennis, offered this analysis afterward: “I couldn’t finish it off.”

Second-seeded Stefan Edberg did not experience a similar problem. A year ago, Edberg decided the perfect way to play the U.S. Open was to stay in a rented house on Long Island. Edberg couldn’t take Manhattan.

It turned out to be perfect strategy. Edberg was able to ignore everything he hated about the Open--the congestion, the chaos, the scheduling--and turn the tournament into two weeks of bliss that ended with a straight-set victory over Jim Courier in the final.

Edberg is back in the suburbs for this year’s Open, which began smartly enough for him Wednesday morning in a 7-5, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Luiz Mattar.

The only ripples in Edberg’s smooth game were that he fell behind a break early in the first two sets and served seven double-faults. But he also hit 25 volley winners and converted six of 10 break-point chances.

“It’s good to be back,” Edberg said.

Michael Chang is also back for another go at trying to get past the fourth round, which he hasn’t done in five previous appearances at the U.S. Open.

Chang swept past qualifier Ellis Ferreira, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), and set his sights on boldly going where he has not gone before. “I feel that I am out of this mentality where I got to the round of 16 (and) that is good enough,” said Chang, seeded fourth.

“Maybe just watching some of the other players, maybe Courier and Sampras in particular, that they are able to get a little bit farther in the Grand Slam events. I have grown up with these guys, I have played them a lot, I have won a few times and you know, why am I not able to put something together like they are?

“I think it gives me a boost, to say, well, if they can do it, I can do it, too.”

U.S. Open Notes

Gabriela Sabatini played two tournaments in 53 days, then two matches in two days. And in her second-round match Wednesday, Sabatini won the first 10 games, lost four in a row, then won the last two to defeat Julie Halard, 6-0, 6-4. . . . Top-seeded Monica Seles watched Lisa Raymond commit 39 unforced errors in 61 minutes to enable a disinterested Seles to win, 7-5, 6-0. . . . Jennifer Capriati looked at 10 break-point chances, converted five of them and disposed of second-round opponent Sandrine Testud, 6-2, 6-3, in 63 minutes.