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Staring at No Tomorrow, Chang Rallies to Play Today

Top-seeded Michael Chang was back on the practice courts at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center yesterday after coming perilously close to elimination in his first match Tuesday night. Chang faced two match points against Mexico's Luis Herrera before rallying, 6-3, 6-7 (11-9), 7-6 (7-5).

After an hour-long session with his brother, Carl, Chang said he was still getting used to the hard-court surface, on which he hasn't played since winning an April event in Hong Kong. Chang lost in the first round of Wimbledon — which is played on grass — last month.

"Each day from here on out, I feel like it's going to get better because the transition takes a little bit of time," he said. "The more time you spend on the hard courts, the more comfortable you're going to feel. It's the surface that I've grown up on, so hopefully it's just a matter of time before things start to really kick in."

Chang, the defending champion, will face Michael Joyce, whom he hasn't met since juniors competition, on Stadium Court today.

Chang "doesn't have the type of game where he's going to blow you off the court, which is always nice," Joyce said. "But to beat him you have to work really hard because he's not going to beat himself. . . .

"He's been struggling a little bit, but sometimes that's when the top players are toughest to play — they get their butt in gear." Up From Down Under
Michael Tebbutt, a qualifier, became the fourth Australian to reach the round of 16 when he upended fourth-seeded Chris Woodruff. Other Australians still alive are No. 5 Jason Stoltenberg, No. 7 Scott Draper and Luke Smith, a wild card.

It's been a good year for Australian men. Three are ranked in the top 20 for the first time in 18 years, and Australia also is in the semifinals of the Davis Cup here in September. "It's kind of a snowball effect," Tebbutt said. "Everyone's pushing each other, everyone's inspired by each other. . . . David Wheaton, who reached the round of 16 yesterday with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 win over Italy's Marzio Martelli, drew an unusual parallel in the post-match news conference: "Tennis is like boxing," Wheaton said. "I watched a lot of boxing over the weekend. It's brutal — you see guys getting their head hammered, and tennis is a lot like that except there's no physical contact. It's kind of jab, jab, change it up, throw the big punch, take a guy who's reeling and try to string some points together. It's very similar. No biting, fortunately."

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