Chang Looks Strong At Australian

January 18, 1999 / 1:32 AM EST / AP

In an unfamiliar role as an unseeded player, Michael Chang kicked off the Australian Open with a straight-sets victory that he hoped would put him back in the chase for a grand slam title he has come close to capturing three times.

Moments after the pullout of a potential quarterfinal opponent, No. 11 Goran Ivanisevic due to a back injury, the No. 27-ranked Chang beat New Zealand's Brett Steven 7-6 (9-7), 6-3, 6-3.

Chang finished out of the top 20 last year for the first time since his rookie season a decade earlier. At the Australian Open a year ago, he fell in the second round, a huge disappointment for him after reaching the semifinals in 1995 and 1997 and the final in 1996.

Ivanisevic, who lost his third Wimbledon final last year, dropped out just hours before his first-round match. He pinched a nerve in his back during the Qatar Open in Doha to start the year and was troubled again during last week's Colonial Classic in Melbourne.

"They gave me so much medicine to take 10 pills a day, maybe more," Ivanisevic said.

He said he withdrew because there was no way he could last seven matches in two weeks. He expected to catch the first plane out of Melbourne to recuperate at home.

"I cannot stay here. It's too much pain to watch and hang in the locker room, there's no way," a dejected Ivanisevic said. "Now it seems like the end of the world for me. I came so far from Europe, traveling, preparing myself ready to start the new year. The next couple of days is going to be the worst for me, seeing the guys playing, watching on TV. It's pretty sad."

Ivanisevic was expected to play Russian Andrei Cherkasov in the opening round and liked his chances this year in "the most open Grand Slam ever."

He was knocked out in the first round of last year's Australian Open, where his best performances were quarterfinal losses in 1989, 1994 and 1997.

"I always have a chance when I feel good and I'm 100 percent, but like this I don't have a chance," Ivanisevic said. "I'd just go there and lose in the first round and it's no fun for me."

Not long after Ivanisevic's departure, the first women's seed lost when Germany's Anke Huber beat No. 13 Irina Spirlea of Romania 7-5, 6-4. No. 15 Natasha Zvereva of Belarus survived a close match against Slovakia's Katarina Studenikova, 6-3, 7-5.

No. 1 Lindsay Davenport started her bid for the Australian Open, surrounded by the grand dames of the grand slams and knowing that, at last, she's one of them.

No one intimidates her any longer. No one holds a psychological edge against her before the match even begins.

Not two-time defending champion Martina Hingis, whom Davenport beat in straight sets Saturday to capture a tuneup tournament in Sydney.

Not Steffi Graf, who has four Australian Open titles sprinkled among her 21 grand slam wins, and who also lost to Davenport in Sydney.

Not Monica Seles, who has never lost in four visits to Australia.

Not Conchita Martinez, the former Wimbledon winner who dispatched Davenport in the semifinals a year ago.

For half a dozen years since her debut Down Under as a chubby teen, Davenport has arrived slimmer, faster and better each time. It helped, but not enough. On a high-bouncing, slow rubberized court perfectly suited to her baseline style, Davenport would find ways to lose and leave in disappointment.

She handled defeat graciously, just as she always handled her victories in lesser tournaments and her one golden triumph at the 1996 Olympics.

But the world changed for the 22-year-old Californian last September when she broke through finally, delivering on all her promise, and captured the U.S. Open. That helped catapult her to the No. 1 ranking a month later the first time an American-born woman held that spot since Chris Evert in 1985. At year's end, Davenport was still No. 1, and the victory in Sydney solidified that spot.

With those credentials, Davenport doesn't have to fear anyone. She knows it, and her opponents know it. Once, Graf would have had her beat before the coin toss, or at least the first time Davenport ran into trouble during the match. Now, Graf knows that Davenport is capable of playing tough tennis under pressure, finding ways to win, getting to balls that used to skip past her, and enduring even a long three-setter.

When they played last week in Sydney, it was Graf who was breathing hard, and Davenport who kept pummeling winners in a straight-sets victory.

Davenport's first match in the Australian Open, against No. 25 Gala Leon Garcia of Spain, will give an indication of how ready she is to win her second grand slam title. With only a day's rest following the Sydney tournament, Davenport wants to avoid long early matches in the Australian that can take their toll later on.

Reigning Wimbledon champion and No. 3 seed Jana Novotna also was in action on Day 1, as were No. 5 Venus Williams and unseeded Jennifer Capriati.

Defending champion Petr Korda had the day off, though he remains the center of a drug controversy. On Sunday, the ATP Players Council voted to increase the first-time penalty for certain classes of drugs, including anabolic steroids, from one year to two years.

Korda, who tested positive for the steroid nandrolone after Wimbledon last year, avoided a suspension when an appeals panel agreed with him that there had been "exceptional circumstances" in his case.

Many players have criticized that decision, saying they don't know what the circumstances were, and look to another appeal of the case by the International Tennis Federation to the Committee for Arbitration in Sports in Switzerland to settle the issue.