Chang Takes Time, but He Always Does

For one set Wednesday, top-seeded Michael Chang looked like the No. 3 player in the world. After that, he seemed to tumble down the rankings in the eyes of 4,673 for the day session of the Infiniti Open at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

Chang righted himself in time to defeat No. 81 Martin Damm, 6-0, 3-6, 7-5, in a second-round match.

“It was one of those see-saw matches. I don’t necessarily like to play those kinds of matches,” Chang said.

Oh, really?

If there’s any player that knows how to draw out a match, it’s Chang. Even when he first gained renown, in 1989, he did it slowly, taking five sets against Stefan Edberg to become the youngest player to win the French Open.

Chang might have realized things were going badly Wednesday when he won the first set, 6-0.

Against Thomas Enqvist in the final Philadelphia last year, Chang won the first set, 6-0, then lost the next two, 6-4, 6-0. Against Richard Krajicek in the final at Los Angeles in 1993, Chang also won the first set, 6-0, then lost the next two, 7-6, 7-6.

Chang was stunning in the first set against Damm. Firing passing shots and painting the corners of the court with sizzling groundstrokes, Chang gave up only two points in the first three games. He saved one break point in the fourth game, then gave up only two more points before winning the set.

Damm took credit for making Chang look so good.

“I was pretty nervous in the beginning and I couldn’t hit the ball the way I wanted to,” Damm said. “I think that I really gave it to him, the first set.”

Damm called on the recent memory of a quarterfinal match at Hong Kong against Chang for confidence. Damm pushed Chang to three sets at Hong Kong in April, so he knew taking a set wasn’t out of his reach.

“In the second set, I started to hit the ball better and got my confidence back, and that was a turning point,” Damm said.

Damm held serve in the first game of the second set, then broke Chang with a backhand volley.

Trailing, 4-3, Chang double-faulted for deuce, then hit a forehand long to bring up break point. Damm squandered the opportunity by hitting a backhand from the baseline into the net, then yelled in frustration.

Damm ran to the net after Chang’s next serve and sent a volley across court that Chang couldn’t reach. Chang hit a forehand into the net on break point and Damm held serve to win the set.

Leading, 5-2, in the third set, Chang had a chance to win it with Damm serving, 30-40, but Damm saved the point with an approach shot down the sideline and held serve, then broke Chang in the next game with a backhand slam to make it 5-4.

Chang had another match point opportunity with Damm serving, 30-40, in the next game, but Chang served a winner to make it deuce, then held serve.

Damm never really got that close to winning.

“I’m just glad that I had a little bit of a chance to get back into the match,” he said. “It was still quite far away for me to win that match.”

Chang double-faulted to start the next game but gave up no more points, winning it after Damm hit a forehand across court and wide. Damm scored only one point on his own serve in the next game before Chang hit a backhand down the sideline to win the match.

Chang, originally from Placentia, has always enjoyed the Los Angeles tournament. He has played here eight times, the first time when he was 15 in 1987. Chang reached the final in 1989, 90 and 93, but has never won.

“I thought the third time would be the charm, but it wasn’t,” he said.

Of course not, that would be too quick.

Second-seeded Richard Krajicek defeated Guillaume Raoux, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, in the second round before 7,187 in the evening session.

Krajicek, who won Wimbledon in June, won the Los Angeles tournament in 1992 and 1993.