Although playing in his final Mercedes-Benz Cup, Michael Chang
was in no mood to make the moment last in his first-round match
Tuesday. Chang quickly disposed of Zack Fleishman 6-1, 6-1, in what
was a quick ending to a long day at the tournament.
“Considering how late it’s getting, it’s nice
to have a quick win, as long as it’s going my way,”
Chang said, shortly following his match after 11:00 p.m.
Fleishman had previously given Chang some trouble, yet Chang
came out firing, giving Fleishman little room for error.
“Zack was a little nervous, and he never really got rid of
the nerves,” Chang said.
Chang will next face Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis, who
knocked off Adam Kennedy 6-3, 6-2 in his first-round match.
“I’m the underdog going into every match I play from
here on out,” Chang said. “But I enjoy doing things
people don’t think I can do.”
The evening session got off to a late start, largely due to an
impressive effort put up by Frederic Niemeyer against No. 5 seed
Gustavo Kuerten. But after losing the first set 6-3, Kuerten
rebounded to win the second set in a tiebreak and held on to win
the third set 6-4.
Taking the court after the Kuerten match, top seed Lleyton
Hewitt appeared to be in cruise control against American Cecil
Mamiit, who took the first set 6-0. Mamiit gained momentum in the
second set after breaking Hewitt’s serve to go up 3-1.
Hewitt later went on to break Mamiit’s serve three times
in the set to win 7-5.
“After winning 6-0, he had nothing to lose,” Hewitt
said. “He started swinging away, and his confidence got
higher. I didn’t take my chances when I could
have.”
Hewitt will face American Michael Joyce tomorrow evening in the
second round.
UCLA freshman Robert Yim lost his match to No. 7 seed Wayne
Ferreira 6-4, 6-4 in the afternoon session.