Michael Chang turned innocent lobs into killer shots, leaving John McEnroe frozen and frustrated more than a dozen times at the net and knocking him out of the U.S. Open after 4 1/2 hours of brilliant tennis.
Chang, battling a hostile crowd and a popular four-time champion nearing the end of his career, ended the duel on his third match point, appropriately with a lovely backhand lob that McEnroe leaped for but couldn't touch.McEnroe, who has spoken of quitting the game next year, showed moments of his former artistry and power but couldn't sustain it in the final set as Chang pulled out a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 2-6, 6-3 victory. More than 10,000 fans remained to the end at 1:28 a.m. Saturday, most hoping for a McEnroe miracle.
It was the second late-night defeat this week for the McEnroe family. Younger brother Patrick lost in 4 hours, 20 minutes on the first night of the Open to Jimmy Connors.
McEnroe saved two match points on his serve in the eighth game of the final set, but Chang turned up the level of his play in the final game just as he did at crucial times earlier. Chang reeled off three aces in the last game and fought off two break points before nailing down the match with his 13th winning lob.
"I don't ace much, but they come at the right time," said Chang, whose first ace of the third set came on the last point in the 12th game to set up a tiebreaker. Chang then smacked two more aces in the tiebreaker.
"I was afraid of missing my first serves, because John would be all over the second ones," said Chang, who made only 29 unforced errors to McEnroe's 48 to earn a fourth-round meeting with Stefan Edberg.
For McEnroe, who played daringly at the net and repeatedly attacked Chang's serve, there was only the satisfaction of performing well against a highly ranked player.
McEnroe, 32, said he would probably quit playing tennis full-time after one more year in 1992.
Earlier in the day, Wimbledon champion Michael Stich crumpled in a sopping heap in the courtside flower bed and looked ready for burial.
The searing sun beat down on his bare head and the 120-degree court burned through his sneakers. A soaked handkerchief drooped around his neck. Across the net, MaliVai Washington was doing deep knee bends after breaking Stich's serve to win the fourth set and tie the third-round match.
Stich, unfazed by Wimbledon's floods but bent double by New York's heat and humidity, pulled himself slowly out of the flowers, ambled over to the baseline, then did what all champions must. From some inner reserve, he got his serve going hotter than the weather, resumed his dogged net attack, struck a few blazing forehands and won 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in 31/2 hours of sheer torture.
Then, almost unbelievably, he went out to play doubles three hours later, against the doctor's orders, after pumping himself up with fluids and getting his legs iced and massaged.
"I was tired and everything was hurting," Stich said of the Washington match after winning the doubles. "It was a strange match. I didn't feel too good all the time. In the end, maybe he was getting mentally tired. I figured whoever made the first break in the fifth set was going to win the match."
Stich, who began the match with Washington about 12:30 p.m., finally finished his day of tennis at 8:45 p.m. after teaming with Udo Riglewski to beat Neil Borwick and Simon Youl 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.
"It's always important to prove to people who said I couldn't play because I didn't have the best preparation before the tournament," said the No. 3-seeded Stich, who took a break after Wimbledon to play German league tennis. "The best way is to win in five sets and four hours. It is a good feeling."
It was a day of grueling marathons and upsets.
In another 31/2-hour duel, most of it fortunately in the shade of the grandstand, Derrick Rostagno won an unusual four-tiebreak match, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4) against Jakob Hlasek.
Edberg, the No. 2 seed, was stretched to nearly three hours by former doubles partner Jim Grabb before winning 7-6 (10-8), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. No. 5 Ivan Lendl also took about three hours to beat Todd Woodbridge 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.
Women's No. 5 seed Mary Joe Fernandez, a semifinalist last year, fell 6-1, 6-2 to Radka Zrubakova, a 20-year-old from Czechoslovakia. No. 11 Katerina Maleeva lost 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to Regina Rajchrtova, another Czech. Jo Durie beat No. 15 Helena Sukova 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.
Four other women's seeds had a much easier time. No. 2 Monica Seles needed just 49 minutes to beat Sara Gomer 6-1, 6-4; No. 3 Gabriela Sabatini beat Gretchen Magers 6-3, 6-4; No. 7 Jennifer Capriati beat Patricia Hy 6-1, 6-4; and No. 9 Jana Novotna beat Dominique Monami 6-1, 6-2.
Seles said she has a cold, congestion and foot blisters from the burning courts.
"I've never had so many blisters as from this tournament," Seles said. "The heat is very tough. Even Florida is not as bad. Here it is deadly."
Washington lost to Stich in five sets in the Australian Open last January and to Lendl in five at Wimbledon this summer. Washington knew he was in shape to go five more this time, but even after winning the fourth set he never thought he had Stich.
Stich, meanwhile, thought he saw Washington weakening.
"He looked very tired in the fourth set," Stich said. "I missed my chance there to finish him off, and then he came back. Maybe he was getting mentally a bit tired, that he didn't really believe in himself, that he couldn't beat me anyway."
In that sun and heat, neither one could be sure who would collapse first.