McEnroe Set for Courier in 4th Round

The first supernova match of the U.S. Open took shape and streaked across a dull gray sky Saturday, drawing Jim Courier and John McEnroe together in a showdown of superstars, past and present.

There might be nothing as compelling as a match between the reigning men’s No. 1 and the former No. 1 to generate a little electricity into what has been, so far, something of a brownout of a first week.

It’s Courier vs. McEnroe and it’s coming Monday to your neighborhood.

Here is Courier’s view: “I expect a tough match.”

Here is McEnroe’s view: “You never know what could happen--Courier could get hit by a car or he might be too afraid to even step on the court against me.

“This is huge for him,” McEnroe said, right after dusting off his third-round opponent, Richard Fromberg, in three swift sets. “I don’t think it’s going to affect him negatively. I am sure he is going to feel some pressure, (but) I don’t think it is going to be a major, major factor.”

McEnroe knows he is one victory away from being a major factor.

“I am here playing the No. 1 player in the world and I am here with an opportunity,” he said.

In 3 hours 20 minutes of ragged tennis, Courier watched Cedric Pioline spray 62 unforced errors into the far corners of the Grandstand Court. Thus fortified, Courier wasn’t really hurt by the fact that in each of his three matches, he has struck more errors than winners.

Nevertheless, Courier was buoyed by his performance, a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory.

“Overall, I feel pretty good about it,” he said. “I really finished the match well, so I have a good feeling coming off the court.”

On the other hand, McEnroe’s 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 decision over Fromberg was routinely simple.

The four-time U.S. Open champion served seven aces, lost only 11 points on his serve, hit 44 winners (and just 18 unforced errors) and was doing post-match interviews 1 hour 48 minutes after hitting the first ball.

Now comes the hard part. Maybe some good things will just happen naturally for McEnroe, who certainly knows what it feels like at this point of the U.S. Open--it is the 12th time he has reached the fourth round in 16 appearances.

“I’m starting over, in a sense, when I play (Courier),” McEnroe said. “I feel like I played real well and gotten to the point where I am supposed to get (but) this is a whole other deal. This separates the men from the boys here.

“People sort of talk how he is not playing that well. . . . It is ridiculous. He has had, by far, the best year anyone has had. He is the No. 1 player in the world. With a good showing here, he could put that all to rest.”

Meanwhile, Courier says playing McEnroe really isn’t that big a deal. And he wasn’t kidding, either.

“Just another tennis match, really. . . . I see it as here is my next match and every match is a new challenge,” he said.

Maybe Courier believes it is a bigger match for McEnroe than for him, but that is wholly false. After making it to the final last year, Courier needs to win a fourth round match against the No. 16-seeded player, whether it’s McEnroe or not.

Lying ahead is a possible quarterfinal against Andre Agassi, then a potential semifinal against Pete Sampras.

Agassi trounced Jan Siemerink, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3, and will meet Carlos Costa in the fourth round.

Pete Sampras, the No. 3-seeded player, served an average match and got more than he expected from No. 93-ranked Todd Martin, but managed to escape on his fourth match point with a 7-6 (7-1), 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory.

Down, 2-0, to start the fifth set, Sampras needed 3 hours 41 minutes to subdue Martin and keep a fourth-round date Monday with Guy Forget, a four-set winner over David Wheaton.

But Goran Ivanisevic disappeared from Sampras’ quarter of the draw after getting bounced by Alexander Volkov, 6-4, 6-0, 6-3. Wimbledon finalist Ivanisevic said he had an upset stomach.

Ivanisevic: “I am waking up like crazy every five times, so something is wrong, because usually when I got to sleep, I sleep all day if I want, but now I can’t sleep. I mean it is bad. And then in the morning I can’t eat so you can’t play then because something is wrong but I don’t know what.”

Even though his stomach was hurting, Ivanisevic would not go so far as to condemn American food--which he said is fine for Americans.

“Here food is not good,” he said. “If you eat those McDonald cheeseburgers hamburgers you go to the hospital forever. But they got used to (it) because they eating all their life these things.”

So if it wasn’t the food, what was it?

“Probably the air,” he said.

U.S. Open Notes

Brad Gilbert, who saved three match points to win a five-set match Thursday, saved two more Saturday to defeat Tommy Ho in another five-set match, 6-1, 6-7 (7-2), 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-0) . . . Top-seeded Steffi Graf, who moved into the fourth round with a 59-minute, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Nanne Dahlman of Finland, offered this forecast: “I will have some tougher matches.” . . . Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who plays Zina Garrison in the fourth round, defeated Naoko Sawamatsu, 6-1, 6-3.