Chang defeats Briton

Phil Brown

Friday, Jan. 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Second-seeded Michael Chang of Henderson advanced to the round of 16 in the Australian Open today, beating Britain's Tim Henman 6-1, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 with deft lobs and precision passing shots.

Henman attacked throughout the match, but Chang usually had an answer, or had help from the overanxious Briton, who had 40 unforced errors.

"Tim is a very talented player. ... I just feel like I have to do a little bit of everything to beat him," Chang said.

In women's matches, Steffi Graf still was struggling with injuries -- and winning. She trailed 2-5 against Argentina's Ines Gorrochategui, ranked 98th in the world. It was the second straight match the top female player in the world trailed 2-5 in the first set.

But the German star, bothered by a stiff back, suddenly became focused, winning 20 of the next 22 points en route to a 7-5, 6-3 victory.

Henman looked like he was turning the match around in the second set when he broke service in the fourth game, charging Chang's second serve to put away a volley and an overhead on the last two points.

Chang broke back in the seventh game with help from Henman, was broken again in the eighth, and broke back again in the ninth, also with help from errors. Henman opened the tiebreaker with a double fault -- one of six for the night -- and never recovered.

Chang got his third-set break in the eighth game and served out the match, finishing with an exciting rally. Henman fought out of trouble with a looping forehand down the line, but then missed a forehand crosscourt as he tried to take advantage of Chang's position in the opposite corner.

"I played a poor match," Henman said. "I don't think it had anything to do with nerves. I didn't serve well. I didn't find any rhythm from the baseline. It was a bad day at the office and I'm not going to look into it any more than that.

Henman, 22, who has played 13 matches in just under three weeks, surged to No. 14 in the rankings after reaching his first final in Qatar two weeks ago. He lost to Jim Courier, but then won the title in Sydney last week, beating Goran Ivanisevic in the semifinals and Carlos Moya in the final.

Chang, meanwhile, is No. 2 in the world. He reached the finals in the Australian and U.S. Opens last year and came into the tournament with exhibition victories over Boris Becker and Pete Sampras.

Graf, who missed tournaments last year because of back and knee injuries, said her back has "been a little stiff in the mornings, and I seem to have a bit of trouble during the match, but I felt I was moving OK."

Still, she wasn't moving well enough to adjust to the wind early in the match, when she was hurt by a rash of errors, especially forehands.

"I'm not too happy with it, but then when it gets down to the important points when I need to focus a little more, I seem to be doing it, and it doesn't seem to be too difficult," she said.

In her bid for her seventh straight Grand Slam title, Graf next faces 12th-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over qualifier Maria Luisa Serna of Spain.

"She will not allow you to have a bad day," Graf said. "She won't give you easy points."

Next could come a quarterfinal match with American Lindsay Davenport, the last player to beat Graf. Davenport did it in August, soon after beating Aranxta Sanchez Vicario in the final of the Atlanta Olympics.

Now Davenport, a 6-1, 6-0 winner over Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-1, 6-0, wants to win a Grand Slam after never going beyond the quarterfinals in 18 tries.

First, Davenport faces Kimberly Po, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Japan's Rika Hiraki.

Another round-of-16 match pits last year's runner-up, fifth-seeded Anke Huber of Germany, against 1995 champion Mary Pierce of France. Huber beat Natasha Zvereva of Belarus 7-5, 6-0, and Pierce drubbed German qualifier Marketa Kochta 6-0, 6-2.

No. 3 Conchita Martinez of Spain beat Asa Carlsson of Sweden 6-0, 6-1 to advance to a match against No. 16 Sabine Appelmans of Belgium. Appelmans beat Dutch player Kristie Boogert, who withdrew because of a thigh injury while trailing 6-1, 3-0.