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.