Chang, Gambill Are Left Standing

The daily dose of calamity hit the Mercedes-Benz Cup.

Of course.

Why would it be any other way?

The Los Angeles Tennis Center was a haunted house again Saturday. Still, not everyone could be hit with an injury or illness, and Michael Chang and Jan-Michael Gambill emerged, intact, to reach today’s final.

The fourth-seeded Chang, who defeated Justin Gimelstob, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0, in the semifinals, will play sixth-seeded Gambill, 23, who beat eighth-seeded Arnaud Clement of France, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.

This tournament has been struck by a bizarre series of events. Two more mishaps occurred in the afternoon session--an injury to Gimelstob and a brief stoppage in play after a 75-year-old female spectator fainted during the second set, needing medical attention. She was given oxygen, put on a stretcher and taken to a hospital. She was later listed in fair condition.

Chang, who has not won a title since October 1998, reached a final for the first time since he lost to Magnus Norman at Auckland, New Zealand, in January. However, his advancement looked in doubt for the first set and a half against Gimelstob.

Chang won the final 11 games, after being down a set and a service break in the second.

“It means a lot, it really does. I feel really blessed to be able to have an opportunity to play in the final,” said Chang, 28. “It’s been a long time since I’ve won a title, and now I have another opportunity.”

Gimelstob looked as if he had been playing rugby, not tennis, when he met with the media afterward. His knee was banged up and he had an ice pack on his right hand.

“It pretty much sums up my first four years on the tour,” he said. “Close but not good enough at this point. . . . Life is made up of success and failures and after the first set and a half, I was a huge failure.”

The tenor of the 2-hour 6-minute match changed when Gimelstob, lunging for a volley, went tumbling on the hard-court surface in the fourth game of the second set. He suffered a bruised right knee and needed a medical timeout to receive treatment from a tour trainer.

Gimelstob managed to hold serve to take a 3-1 lead, but that was the last game he won. His difficulties increased: He hit the ground again in the next game, then yelled at a spectator to shut off a ringing cellular phone the next game and tossed his racket toward the net and received a warning for racket abuse in the seventh game of the second set.

After that chain of events, Chang led, 4-3, and the match was essentially over.

“He’s going to give it 100% if he can get to a ball,” Chang said of Gimelstob. “He’ll do what he can. Earlier this week, it was kind of instinctive, after playing on grass for a month, I dove on the court and I said, ‘Wait a minute, this is a hard court.’

“So your mentality changes after that. You definitely have to be careful and watch yourself. But I don’t think he would have won a couple of those points had he not dove.”

Gimelstob wasn’t the only player leaving the court in anger. Clement, upset over a controversial line call in the eighth game of the third set, stormed off the court after the evening loss to Gambill, swearing in French in the locker room.

“For me the ball was out,” he said. “It was very important point for me.”

Clement, serving at 3-4, had a 40-0 lead in that game, and Gambill’s backhand on the questionable call that clipped the sideline made it deuce. Gambill then broke him with two huge returns, the first an outright winner and the second drawing an error from Clement.

Gambill, naturally, disagreed with Clement’s assessment of the call. He was pleased at his ability to pick up the pace after the first set. Clement won only eight points in the second set.

“I was letting him dictate,” Gambill said. “It surprised me. I didn’t know how hard he could hit it.”

This will be Gambill’s first final since winning at Scottsdale, Ariz., last year. He laughed when it was mentioned that Chang had not won a title in nearly two years.

“Well, that’s too bad. . . . I feel so sorry for him,” Gambill said, smiling.

Admiration of the older generation only goes so far.

*

MICHAEL CHANG

vs. JAN-MICHAEL

GAMBILL

2 p.m. today

L.A. Tennis Center

Fox Sports Net

MORE TO COME

Women will get two weeks in the spotlight. Page 12