Chang and Sanchez, Teen Whizzes on Clay, Win on Wimbledon Grass

WIMBLEDON, England â€”  Michael Chang and Arantxa Sanchez, teen-age king and queen of clay courts, today proved they can win on grass courts as well as they advanced in impressive style at Wimbledon.

The men’s French Open champ, 17-year-old Chang of the United States, won his second-round match, moving for the first time into the third round at the All England Club. He beat Ronald Agenor of Haiti 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 7-5.

Spain’s Sanchez, 17, champion of the clay courts of Paris two weeks ago, used drop shots and a baseline game for a come-from-behind 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Raffaella Reggi of Italy.

Stefan Edberg, Wimbledon’s defending men’s champ, beat Todd Woodbridge 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6, in the completion of a second-round match suspended by darkness Thursday.

Top-seeded Ivan Lendl beat Tomas Carbonell of Spain 7-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the third round, his first straight-set victory of the tournament, and two-time champion Boris Becker beat Jan Gunnarsson of Sweden 7-5, 7-6, 6-3. That match also was in the third round.

Graf, Navratilova Win

Also winning on a day of sunshine and showers were defending women’s champion Steffi Graf and the woman she beat last year for the title, Martina Navratilova, who came back from an overnight break to complete a three-set victory over Australian qualifier Kristine Radford.

Aaron Krickstein, the men’s 13th seed from the United States, and women’s 11th seeded Monica Seles of Yugoslavia were others advancing, but Natalia Zvereva, the women’s ninth seed from the Soviet Union, was upset by Sweden’s Catarina Lindqvist 7-6, 4-6, 6-4.

Sanchez, playing her third match in three days, looked as if she would follow Zvereva out of the tournament early. Reggi, who has twice reached the fourth round here, had her on the run in a match that featured clay-court-like rallies from the baseline.

Reggi broke Sanchez for a 4-3 lead in the third set as the Spaniard netted consecutive backhands and moved to match point in the 10th game.

But Sanchez, who used drop shots so well to win the French Open title, went to that shot on the grass, dropping the ball delicately over the net to send the game to deuce.

‘One of the Best’

“I was very surprised,� Reggi said. “I think that if she tries that shot 100 times, she’s going to make it once or twice in that situation. I wouldn’t do it, but she did.�

Sanchez said she never hesitated to use the tricky shot.

“It’s one of the best shots I have,� she said. “Every chance I have to play it, I do.�

Chang, the first American winner of the French Open men’s singles title in 34 years, beat Agenor in a replay of their meeting in the quarterfinals in Paris earlier this month.

Chang, growing more accustomed to grass courts, came to the net more than in his first-round match and passed Agenor when the Haitian took up rare volleying positions.

Chang, like Sanchez, was given little chance of doing well at Wimbledon, a tournament in which speed and power are the keys. He said that attitude in others spurred him on.

“When someone says that, it makes a person like me work harder,� he said.