Courier Win U.S. Men's Clay Court Title

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

April 25, 1998 / 7:48 PM EDT / CBS Sportsline

American Jim Courier extended countryman Michael Chang's title drought to over nine months by outlasting the top seed and defending champion, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, in the final of the $315,000 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships.

Courier, appearing in his first event since his emotional Davis Cup victory three weeks ago, hit a forehand winner on match point to complete the only service break of the final set. He collected his 23rd ATP Tour title and $37,500.

A winner of 32 career ATP Tour titles, Chang is still searching for his first singles crown since the Legg Mason Classic in Washington, D.C., last July. In February, Chang lost in the final of the Kroger St. Jude in Memphis, his only other appearance in a final since his victory here last year.

Ranked as high as second in his career, the 26-year-old Chang has suffered through 11 early-round defeats and a recent knee injury since winning this event last year. Chang's ranking will fall from 12th to as low as 15th when the new ATP rankings are released Monday.

Courier barely managed to hold serve in the third set. In the seventh game, he battled through six deuces and saved a break point. In the ninth game, he rallied from 0-40 down to win the next five points. He saved another break point in the 11th game before breaking Chang in the next game to win the battle of the only American men to claim French Open titles since 1956.

Currently ranked 57th in the world, the 27-year-old Courier will jump to 40th in next week's rankings. He won four Grand Slams over an eight-event span and held the top ranking four times from 1991 to 1993.

Courier evened the all-time series with Chang at 11 victories each. In their only previous meeting on clay, Courier prevailed in three sets at the Italian Open in 1993.