TENNIS / CHAMPIONS CUP : If for Only One Match, These Two Are Rivals

What’s in a rivalry?

Is it two guys who have won three of the last four French Open titles? Is it two guys who list their legal addresses as towns in Florida and Nevada, but who really live at the baseline? Is it two guys who can last longer than the Energizer bunny?

Is it Jim Courier and Michael Chang?

Well, said Chang, maybe, but if so, just check the rankings.

“Jim, at the moment, is No. 1,” Chang said.

Also at this moment, the $1.7-million Newsweek Champions Cup moves into its semifinal round at Hyatt Grand Champions, where Courier will compare ground-stroke techniques with Chang and Wayne Ferreira will try to knock serves past Alexander Volkov.

As far as intrigue goes, Courier-Chang shapes up as the more interesting match, whether there is really a rivalry or not.

Courier said there isn’t.

“My rivalry is mainly with myself,” Courier said. “Your opponent is faceless.”

In Friday’s quarterfinals, Chang’s opponent was hopeless. Petr Korda, who has been ill, played as if his racket were sick and fell to Chang, 6-1, 6-3, in 64 minutes.

“Petr just wasn’t there today,” he said.

For Korda, it was one of those days. He had trouble doing everything except walking off the court at the end. He served 10 double faults, won only 17 points on Chang’s serve and blamed food. Korda said he didn’t eat for four days last week because he was sick.

“That didn’t help me this week,” Korda said. “But I have nothing to cry (about).”

After all, he won two rounds, and that’s worth something.

“It makes me feel good in my head,” he said.

Courier felt good from the ends of his fingers to the tips of his toes. Not only did he dispatch fledgling nemesis Marc Rosset, 6-3, 6-7 (7-3), 6-3, but he also got to needle him.

Rosset had cast the first jibe Thursday, when he said Courier played better when he was on the court for himself instead of playing for his country. Rosset could say that because he had beaten Courier at the Olympics and in the Davis Cup final.

After punctuating his 2-hour 39-minute match with a brief fist-pump, Courier was asked to explain what separates No. 33-ranked Rosset from top 10 players.

“Top 10 players do it week in and week out,” Courier said. “Marc hasn’t been able to do that.”

Basically, what Rosset was unable to do against Courier was play consistently.

Rosset had 13 aces but seemed defenseless against Courier’s first serve. Courier lost only eight of 47 points on his first serve and set his sights on meeting Chang in the semifinals.

Ferreira and Volkov earned the chance to play in the second semifinal today after straight-set victories. Ferreira, the 14th-seeded player, defeated Alberto Mancini, 6-5, 7-6 (7-2), and Volkov put Fabrice Santoro through the spin cycle with a 6-4, 6-1 victory.

Courier holds a 4-3 advantage against Chang and has won the last three matches, two on hard courts, but he isn’t taking anything for granted.

“Every day is a new day,” he said. “You can’t carry your past results on the court with you. . . . I wish you could.”

Tennis Notes

Jim Courier was named the 1992 Player of the Year Friday night at the IBM/ATP tour Awards Gala, which is helping raise about $5 million for the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS, Inc. . . . Andrei Medvedev, 18, was named Newcomer of the Year.