By Jennifer Frey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 26,1998; Page D1

Michael Chang, right, withdrew from his semifinal match against Scott Draper because of a wrist injury. (Shawn Thew/The Post)

Top seed and two-time defending champion Michael Chang walked on court for his semifinal match of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic yesterday evening wearing street clothes, and fans quickly discovered they were in for an unpleasant shock. Chang, who has won 16 consecutive matches here, pulled out of the tournament with an injured left wrist.

Scheduled to play Australian Scott Draper at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center, Chang instead apologized to the fans. He explained that he had aggravated the wrist — which has been bothered by tendinitis for much of this season — during his quarterfinal victory over Jim Courier Friday night.

A handful of teenage girls called out a wistful "We love you, Michael!" and a smattering of upper-deck fans booed as Chang disappeared, leaving this tournament in the hands of three-time champion Andre Agassi.

Agassi, the second seed, finished his cruise through the other half of the tournament bracket with a semifinal victory over South African Wayne Ferreira earlier yesterday afternoon. In a match so brief that late-arriving fans easily could have missed it, Agassi defeated Ferreira, 6-1, 6-0, in 43 minutes. He now will face Draper in the final, which is scheduled for 4 p.m. today.

"It's very disappointing," Chang said. "First of all, being in the semifinals, and second of all being the defending champion and playing in a place like D.C., where you get a lot of support. This tournament has been a great stop for me."

Together, Chang and Agassi have won five of the last eight tournaments here — Agassi in 1990, 1991 and 1995; Chang in 1996 and 1997 — and the thought of a Chang-Agassi final had been tantalizing. Instead, Agassi will face the 14th-seeded Draper, who is hoping to give Agassi his only real challenge this week.

"If I go 62 minutes," Draper joked, "I can feel like I've done something, eh?"

Actually, that would not be a bad start. It was a beautiful afternoon yesterday, one that made fans ache for a long afternoon of tennis. But Agassi — and, more to the point, Ferreira — did nothing to make that wish come true.

Seeded third and hoping to beat Agassi for the first time in seven career meetings, Ferreira instead suffered the worst of his defeats by Agassi.

Ferreira's body language painted the most telling picture: His shoulders slumped dramatically after a bad error, his chin tucked into his chest, his feet walked in lazy circles behind the baseline. A few times, Ferreira showed what appeared to be some passion — he cracked his racket at one point, smacked a ball into the stands at another — but it was wasted emotion.

"It's hard not to notice the tone of the match," Agassi said. "More than body language, I notice shot selection, and work ethic and I'm just trying to size up [the opposition] strategically. I really didn't have to play that great. The score said more about the way [Ferreira] was playing."

Agassi's speedy victory came one day after he beat Sebastien Lareau 6-1, 6-2, in a 56-minute quarterfinal. In that match, Agassi disappointed the crowd when he failed to close out the first set at love, thus depriving the fans of an advertised bagel giveaway should he "bagel" the opposition in any given set.

Yesterday, he disappointed fans with the abruptness of his appearance, but managed to win them a consolation prize.

Asked if he felt bad for the crowd, Agassi grinned.

"No," he said, "they got a bunch of bagels today."

They also saw nearly as much of Agassi as any other crowd this week. Overall, Agassi has averaged just 62 minutes per match here, has had his service broken just once (out of 34 opportunities) and has not lost a set.

His focus has been fantastic — he didn't let up against Ferreira or Lareau when he had them on the ropes, once one of his bad habits — and his ability to anticipate shots, take balls early, and finish points is razor sharp.

It's all gone so smoothly that Agassi has started to compare his play here to that in 1995, when he last won this tournament — and when he happened to be the No. 1 player in the world. He also seems to be more relaxed, and better able to enjoy himself, than he has in a long time.

"I've got to go do my laundry," Agassi joked to the crowd Saturday, explaining his abbreviated visit. "I'll have a big meal, relax, put my feet up, and I'll be ready for the final."

When he left late in the afternoon, Agassi suspected that he would meet Chang this afternoon — Chang, after all, had been playing red-hot tennis himself. Like Agassi, Chang had not dropped a set here this week, and he was riding a 16-match winning streak at the tennis center when he arrived last night.

But instead of heading onto the court to warm up, Chang headed to the trainers' room. Doctors confirmed what he had suspected since his painful practice session yesterday morning: His wrist was too tender for him to compete.

"I know it's disappointing for the fans to come out and expect to see a singles semifinal and I'm just not able to go out and play," said Chang, who first injured the wrist — which he only uses on his backhand — playing Pete Sampras in Rome on May 14.

Draper, 24, volunteered to play an exhibition match in order to appease the crowd — and in order to get in a decent workout before his meeting with Agassi. The Australian has played Agassi twice: He lost to Agassi in 1995 in Tokyo, when Agassi was No. 1, and he beat him at the Lipton Tournament in Key Biscayne, Fla., when Agassi was struggling last year.

"I've played him on the down and I've played him at his best," Draper said of Agassi. "I think he's getting back to his best again. Andre's the kind of guy — he doesn't really give you an inch. He wants to demolish you, and that's what he does. I just want to make it a good match."