Chang Beats Agassi With Ease Becker Also Wins In Straight Sets To Set Up Aussie Open Title Match

Defending champion Andre Agassi ran out of miracles at last when human backboard Michael Chang overcame a rib injury Friday to reach the Australian Open final.

The top-ranked Agassi, who clawed from behind in four matches and won three five-setters, played indifferently as a nearly flawless Chang beat him for the first time in a Grand Slam event, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1).

Chang, who will be seeking his first Grand Slam title since he won the French Open at 17 in 1989, will play 1991 Australian champion Boris Becker, a 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 victor over Mark Woodforde.

On the national holiday, Australia Day, fans had hoped that the popular, 30-year-old Woodforde might score a huge upset for his country. But fourth-seeded Becker has been playing better with each match, and on this day never was threatened. The 28-year-old German, winner of five Grand Slam titles, closed out the match with two of his dozen aces.

“Boris had one of those days,” Woodforde said, “that probably God could have been out there on the other end and he would have beaten Him easily.”

Becker wasn’t so sure about beating God, but he knew he played well enough to beat just about anyone else.

“I felt I was playing from the beginning a flawless match almost,” he said. “My timing was excellent, and I seemed to be playing better as the match went on.”

Agassi, who had won 12 consecutive matches over two years in the Australian, left the tournament with the No. 1 ranking, but without the prize he wanted most - another Grand Slam title.

“If you’re No. 1 in the world, it doesn’t mean that you’re safe anymore,” said Chang, the No. 5 seed. “Obviously you have to be out there playing your best tennis.”

Agassi obviously wasn’t. He said he decided to “go for the miracle” in coming back from two sets down against Jim Courier in the quarters, but made little effort to do that same against Chang.

Though Agassi had beaten Chang in nine of their past 13 matches, and in all three of their Grand Slam matches, there was little surprise in Chang’s victory this time after they way they had been playing over the past two weeks.

Agassi came in following a 3-1/2-month layoff because of a chest muscle injury. Chang came in healthy, winning a tuneup exhibition the week before the Australian Open.

“I felt rather flat,” Agassi said. “I’ve played a lot of sets. To play against the wind, against a guy like Michael that’s going to move you from corner to corner, I took a lot of chances. I just didn’t have it. In the wind, the person with the better footwork has the advantage.”

Unhampered by the wind or strained rib cartilage, Chang served 13 aces against the best returner in tennis, and made only 22 errors to Agassi’s uncharacteristic 60 on a wind-whipped afternoon.

“Maybe I overstretched for one shot,” Chang said of the cartilage strain that he had treated by trainer Bill Norris twice in the third set. “I didn’t quite feel right. I had Bill come out to put some stuff on to keep it warm. It was OK. It didn’t hinder my playing. I’ve got a day to take care of it” before Sunday’s final.

Agassi hit lazy drop shots that floated into the net, and he slugged wild shots that soared at times 10 feet wide or long. He made no effort for some balls that might have been within his reach, as if he had nothing left after so many comebacks.

“Sometimes your eyes are bigger than your stomach,” Brad Gilbert, Agassi’s coach, said of his belief that he could win this tournament again. “His body just didn’t have it for him today. I think he was tired after playing 22 sets in this tournament. The adrenaline pulled him through a few matches but today he hit the wall.

“If you haven’t got freshness in your legs against Michael Chang, you’ve got a problem because against Michael, you can’t hit one-shot winners. Chang only played average but then again Andre didn’t make him play very well.

“He’ll be disappointed that he’s not here on Sunday, but this means we’ll be watching the Super Bowl.

Chang, despite the rib injury, had fresh legs as he advanced to the final without losing a set in any of his six matches.