Edberg, Lendl Play Another Day

The wind blew, the volleys flew and the rain came Thursday night, which meant that had Stefan Edberg used his racket as a rudder, he might have steered himself into the semifinals of the U.S. Open.

Instead, Edberg swing his racket like a frying pan, burned up four match points and saw his chance to rid himself of Ivan Lendl go up in smoke.

The defending champion had not one, but four shots at sinking Lendl in the fourth set of the quarterfinal, but he missed them all, which meant that when rain washed out completion of the quarterfinal match just after midnight, Edberg had all night to consider how he blew it.

Edberg won the first two sets, 6-3, 6-3. Lendl won the third, 6-3, and the fourth, 7-5, after trailing, 4-5, 0-40.

The first three match points blown were probably a blur to Edberg--a backhand approach into the net, a short forehand volley off the frame into the net and a service return error.

Edberg had one more match point, but Lendl saved that with a booming service winner. Lendl went on to hold, break Edberg and serve out the set after a 1-hour 10-minute rain delay.

Play was stopped again after 16 minutes with Edberg leading, 2-1, on serve in the fifth set.

When the match is completed today, it will either be a great comeback for Lendl or a huge goof by Edberg. At stake is a semifinal against Michael Chang.

In 4 hours 17 minutes, Chang skittered past sore-legged Wayne Ferreira, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 6-7 (7-4), 6-1, in the quarterfinals.

Afterward, even Ferreira had to be impressed with Chang’s tenacity.

“He will die before he loses,” Ferreira said.

The hottest player on the tour in March and April, Chang won three tournaments, jumped into the top 10 and eventually climbed to a career-high No. 4 in the rankings.

It was Chang’s first U.S. Open semifinal and he is grateful to be where he is.

“I haven’t had great results, I haven’t had great results in Grand Slams and getting past the round of 16 was an accomplishment,” he said. “To get to the semis is even better.

“I think for me, it is important that I not go into the next match kind of like satisfied.”

Ferreira had problems with a strained muscle in his left leg, which didn’t let him move as well as he wished, and with his racket, which didn’t keep the ball on the court often enough.

For instance, take mistakes. When they finished counting Ferreira’s unforced errors, there were 104 of them, enough to fill Queens and neighboring borough of Brooklyn.

Ferreira accounted for the errors by saying he was going for more shots to end the points quicker because of his leg.

Chang only needed 33 winners in five sets to go the distance for the second match in a row and improve his five-set record to 12-4.

The match ended, fittingly enough, when Chang drove a forehand deep to the baseline and Ferreira mis-hit it off the frame and sent the ball flying like a pop foul.

All Chang could do was be thankful for his good fortune, which includes a chance to win a second Grand Slam to match his surprising victory at 17 in the French Open.

Since then, Chang hasn’t made another final and been forced to address the issue of whether that upset victory was a fluke.

“I think everybody has their doubts,” he said. “You know, whether it’s your tennis career or your life, everyone is going to have their ups and downs. You just can’t say I will take the ups and leave the downs. That is the way life is.

“I have learned to persevere. Things will eventually come back up. It is true there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. You just have to keep walking until you see it.”

U.S. Open Notes

Jim Courier had muscle cramps after his 3-hour 47-minute victory over Andre Agassi in the quarterfinals Wednesday night. Afterward, Courier sounded as if he felt vindicated by the 6-3, 6-7 (8-6), 6-1, 6-4, verdict. “Everyone was talking about how well I am not playing,” he said. “I’ll tell you what: You can’t look me in the eye and tell me I didn’t play a good match out there (against Agassi). If you do, I will tell you are a liar.” . . . Agassi said that to catch up to Courier, he needs to hit harder shots for longer periods of time. Agassi also picked Pete Sampras to beat Courier in the semifinals Saturday. “To be honest, I would take Pete for the match.” he said. “It is easier for a guy like Pete to play a guy like Jim because he is a serve-and-volleyer, the big serve, and I think he takes Jim out of his best rhythm.”

Agassi also said Courier is probably the world’s top player, but what that means, well, he isn’t sure. “So he might be playing the best tennis, but that doesn’t mean a lot when it comes to winning tournaments,” Agassi said. . . . In a rematch of the Wimbledon doubles final, the victory this time went to July’s runners-up. Jim Grabb and Richey Reneberg, who lost a five-set thriller to John McEnroe and Michael Stich at Wimbledon, got even with a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-2 victory in a 3-hour 48-minute semifinal. “I guess it was their turn to win,” McEnroe said. The match was held up briefly when a raccoon ran through the grandstands and caused a commotion as spectators began leaping out of their seats. The raccoon fell through the stands and made an appearance at the food court before disappearing.