Chang's Final Open Ends with a Fight
by Joe Checkler
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
With a 5-4 lead and break point opportunity to win the second set,
Michael Chang seemed to have one last chance to prolong his stay in
his last career tournament. But when No. 15 seed Fernando Gonzalez
pounded a more than 110 mph serve that Chang could only graze with
his racket, that chance slipped away.
From there, the Chilean won the game, broke Chang's serve in the
next game, and held his own again, winning the second set 7-5 at
Arthur Ashe Stadium Tuesday.
But Chang wasn't done, breaking Gonzalez's serve in the clinching
12th game of the third that gave him a 7-5 set victory. Eventually,
though, Gonzalez won 6-3, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 to advance to the second round.
Loudly applauded during what he said is his last career tournament,
the 31-year old Chang showed flashes of his younger self, running
back-and-forth and sideways, like a hyper kid. He fashioned many
crafty points in that manner, but Gonzalez's overwhelmingly powerful
serves and groundstrokes buried Chang from the outset, making it
impossible for the Hoboken, N.J. native to break serve until that
third set.
After losing the third, Gonzalez rebounded, breaking Chang's serve
to go up 3-2 and never lost his own serve again for a 6-4 final set
margin. At 40-15 in the fourth, the crowd gave Chang one last in-match
cheer before watching him loft a ball just past the baseline to seal
his fate for the match, tournament and illustrious career.
Not without his own rooting section, Gonzalez kept his composure at
a point where a quickly-filling Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd began to
audibly pull for his higher-profile opponent. After victorious games,
a Latin contingent loudly chanted for its Chilean hero, perhaps giving
him the impetus to not let the match last longer.
It looked like Chang would go down quickly after Gonzalez went up two
breaks in the first set, but once he got his serve untracked, Chang
battled his way back into contention. Although he couldn't match the
power of Gonzalez's often more than 120 mph first serves, Chang was
only broken twice after the first set. His problem was converting
break opportunities, which he could only do one out of seven times.
For the 17th and last time, Chang waved goodbye to a US Open crowd
and even clapped with them as they clapped for him. His best showing
here came in 1996 when Pete Sampras defeated him in the finals.
Gonzalez, realizing Chang's place in history, told Chang it was an
"honor" to participate in the match when the two greeted each other
at the net.
Next up for Gonzalez is Austria's Stefan Koubek, who defeated Italy's
Giorgio Galimberti in four sets Monday.
Match Facts
#This was the first meeting between Gonzalez and Chang.
#Gonzalez's best US Open came in 2002 when he made it to the quarterfinals
before losing to Sjeng Schalken in five sets.
#On August 4, Gonzalez received his career high ranking of No. 13.
#Chang's loss marked the second (and last time) that he failed to
advance to the second round of the US Open (2001).
#Chang retires with 34 singles titles, including the 1989 French Open
championship.
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