The unflappable Michael Chang flapped.
"Pressure did get to me quite a bit," Chang admitted.Marcelo Rios almost did, too.
Chang, who defending champion Pete Sampras picked to win the U.S. Open, grabbed the final spot in the semifinals Thursday night when he barely outlasted Rios 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3 in a gripping battle that lasted just two minutes shy of three hours.
"Today was definitely a fight," Chang said.
Chang, the lone American left in the men's singles, will take on Australia's Patrick Rafter in one of Saturday's semifinals. The other pairing has Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman against Britain's Greg Rusedski, with the winners meeting for the title on Sunday. Rafter advanced with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-2 victory over Magnus Larsson of Sweden.
The women's semifinals were on tap today, with top-seeded Martina Hingis taking on No. 6 Lindsay Davenport, followed by No. 11 Irina Spirlea against unseeded Venus Williams.
Chang and Rios presented mirror images at the opposite ends of the court. Both are 5-foot-9, extremely fast and quick. Both have rapier-sharp passing shots, sharply angled groundstrokes and can, on occasion, come up with big serves. And where Chang is right-handed, Rios is a lefty.
There is another huge difference. Rios is quick to display his emotions. Chang will occasionally clinch a fist, not with the gusto and grand sweep of Tiger Woods, but instead almost imperceptibly while at the same time perhaps arching an eyebrow.
Yet the fire in their game is there for all to see, and the crowd of more than 20,000 in Arthur Ashe Stadium warmed up the chilly night with cheers for the non-stop action.
Most shots seem to come back as both players raced from one side of the court to the other, somehow getting to the ball and, not intent on just getting it back, hitting winners.
"He's a great player," Rios said. "He plays really good from the baseline and he runs down every ball."
It came down to one set, winner to the semis.
The first two games they each held serve at 15. The next three were at love.
In the eighth game, with Chang leading 4-3, he rifled a backhand down the line that Rios lunged for and missed, sprawling on the court. The Chilean followed with a double-fault before Chang, standing 12 feet behind the baseline, crushed another crosscourt backhand that Rios could only watch.
Chang had triple break point. Rios saved two of them before he made a crucial error, sailing a backhand wide.
Rios, the No. 10 seed, didn't go quietly into the night. Instead, with Chang serving for the match, Rios took a 15-40 lead.
The first point was lost when he miss-hit a forehand. On the next point, Rios ended a rally with a running forehand passing shot that landed an inch outside the line.
That made it deuce. Chang didn't give him another chance, winning the next two points, the last with an inside-out forehand, to close out the marathon.
"He hung tough," Chang said. "He didn't give me anything. Before I knew, we were in the fifth set and it was extremely close. It's not a big difference."
But it is a difference, and Chang, the favorite since Sampras was ousted in the fourth round, is back in the semifinals at the National Tennis Center for the second straight year.
The 13th-seeded Rafter also reached the semis at the French Open. His emergence this year began in February in Australia when he came back from two sets down to beat Cedric Pioline in a five-set Davis Cup match.