U.S. OPEN : Edberg Loves the Net Result : Men’s quarterfinal: He wins fifth-set tiebreaker against Lendl after getting a great break.

How to get into a Grand Slam semifinal: You blow four match points, get rained out until the next afternoon, go to a fifth-set tiebreaker and get the one break you need when your shot hits the top of the net and dribbles over.

If you are Stefan Edberg, this is exactly how you do it.

Then, after you lean over and plant a kiss on top of your new best friend, the net, you finish off Ivan Lendl, shake hands and head for home before something else weird happens.

Edberg took one very shaky step toward defending his U.S. Open title by completing a long night’s journey into day, a 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), decision over a determined Lendl.

The match, held over until Friday after rain held it up a second time just after midnight, ended on Edberg’s fifth match point. Lendl sent a forehand wide after Edberg hit a strong return of serve.

Lendl said he hit the ball off his frame.

“He hit a really deep return, it skidded off the court and I caught it late,” Lendl said. “That happens.”

But what doesn’t happen too much, what propelled Edberg into today’s semifinal against Michael Chang, was the ball that Edberg rolled over the top of the net in the tiebreaker.

“Luck,” Edberg said. “I needed that one.”

Not one to show much emotion on the court, it was a clearly relieved Edberg who leaned over and planted a kiss on the top of the white tape.

Why did he do it?

“It was the thing to do,” Edberg said.

For Lendl, it was a particularly distressing end to his Grand Slam year, once again without a major title since the 1990 Australian Open.

“I don’t even think about it,” Lendl said. “You (reporters) think about it much more than I do. I mean, you worry about it, I am not. It is going to come.”

With that, Lendl picked up his racket bag, headed for his Porsche, still dressed in the same tennis clothes he wore during the match. He threw his belongings in the back, got behind the wheel, slammed the door and took off. He was heading for his home in Connecticut and an uncertain tennis future.

Both players admitted they were playing better the night before, which would probably account for the errors--such as Edberg blowing a break point at 3-2 or double-faulting to give Lendl a chance to break in the next game, which he did.

Lendl faltered as quickly in the next game and Edberg broke back to 4-4. Edberg saved a break point in the next game with a service winner and no one was in trouble the rest of the way until the tiebreaker.

Awaiting either Edberg or Chang will be the winner of the second semifinal between Jim Courier and Pete Sampras--the 1991 runner-up and 1990 champion, respectively.

In any event, Edberg said he is going to enjoy how far he has come. “I had such a great tournament here last year and I have said to myself I am going to try to enjoy it as much as I can this year,” Edberg said.

“I am going to try to give it everything I have to try to win it again because I am two matches away now, so it is not an impossible target. I am playing well enough to have a shot at it.”