NEW YORK
SEPT. 1 -- Stefan Edberg avoided an upset at the U.S. Open tonight, but he had to swat off a pestering, scampering nuisance named Michael Chang to do it. Edberg, at No. 2 the highest remaining seed left in the men's draw, won 7-6 (7-1), 7-5, 6-3 in a match in Louis Armstrong Stadium that pitted the best serve-and-volley player against one of of the speediest men in the game. It was a fast-paced competition in which points were determined by inches, or even fractions of inches. Frustrated by Chang's moonball lobs and piercing passing shots, Edberg, 25, had to volley and hit smashes with absolute precision to overcome the fleet and surprisingly powerful Chang. "It's the best match I've played all summer," Edberg said. With his victory, Edberg advances to a quarterfinal with unseeded Javier Sanchez, younger brother of Emilio and older brother of Arantxa. Other players still alive include Paul Haarhuis, Carl-Uwe Steeb, Aaron Krickstein and, of course, Jimmy Connors. Besides Edberg, a few other seeds remain, as today was one of the few days during the week-old tournament with no upsets. Michael Stich, seeded third, again played sub-par tennis but defeated Derrick Rostagno, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4). "I didn't play too well," the 22-year-old Wimbledon champion said. "You never feel comfortable when you don't get the rhythm for your game." Ivan Lendl, the fifth seed, continued his agonizing march through the draw, defeating brash and mercurial Goran Ivanisevic, 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-2. That puts Lendl in his 10th consecutive quarterfinal here, where he will play Stich. On the women's side, Gabriela Sabatini may be the defending champion, but she has walked on eggshells getting through the draw. That's not the case with Jennifer Capriati, who waltzed by another hapless opponent on her way to the quarterfinals. While Sabatini came from behind to defeat ninth-seeded Jana Novotna, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), on a clear, cool afternoon at the National Tennis Center, Capriati polished off Jo Durie of England, 6-1, 6-2, in 52 minutes. With the first week now completed, Capriati has lost a total of 12 games in four matches and has spent less than four hours on the court. "I think lately I've been playing my best," said Capriati, seeded seventh. The same cannot be said for third-seeded Sabatini, who will play Capriati in the quarterfinals Tuesday. Sabatini has had a tougher draw than the other top seeds, and that may explain why she has faced two tiebreakers and lost a set in the early rounds. Against Novotna, Sabatini was down 2-4 in the first set before she went on a romp, winning 15 of 16 straight points. "I feel more confident now," she said. "Everything is coming together again. I feel in good shape." The only other women's quarterfinal match-up that has been decided will feature second-seeded Monica Seles and Gigi Fernandez, who annihilated fourth-round opponents. Seles, who sat with actor Alec Baldwin in a box seat at Louis Armstrong Stadium a few evenings ago and today clarified her views on Madonna, has shown only one mental lapse on the court all week. Today, she beat Regina Rajchrtova 6-1, 6-1, a stylish but erratic Czechoslovak. "She can really hit a great shot or she can hit the ball in the stands," Seles said. As for continuing reports that she idolizes Madonna, Seles said: "I like Madonna, and I said that one time to a reporter, and he blew it all out of proportion. I feel a little embarrassed by now." The Novotna-Sabatini match was predictably close. Although Sabatini had won six of their eight matches, five had gone three sets. Novotna quickly jumped ahead as the 21-year-old Argentine shoved backhand after backhand into the net. Novotna's strategy was obvious: to counter Sabatini's arcing topspin ground strokes, she hit chips and slices that skidded off the court, forcing Sabatini to respond with slices of her own. Novotna was in command and had three breaks with Sabatini serving at 2-4. But Novotna has a history of choking on big points, and that's what she did. Sabatini also caught fire, adding depth to her ground strokes and coming to the net. The pressure mounted on Novotna, who flailed at Sabatini's volleys and found herself losing control of the match. "I always waited for her to make a mistake," Novotna said. "I was not aggressive enough. I didn't come in." The Lendl-Ivanisevic match was a psychological war between two stubborn players who are trying to improve on disappointing results this year. Ivanisevic, seeded 12th, is a lanky left-hander with a bruising serve and an ego the size of Long Island. Last year, he caused a brief controversy here when he commented that he "tanked" a third-round match, retracting that later by saying he misunderstood the word in English. Today, he said he lost because he suffered a pain in his lower back midwaythrough the third set. "I started to feel a very big pain, an unbelievable pain," Ivanisevic said. "I couldn't serve as hard as I did at the beginning of the match." Lendl, who played well throughout the 3-hour 30-minute match, was not convinced. "He just got tired, if you ask me," Lendl said. "I'd like to have that kind of back pain every day." Against Lendl, Ivanisevic chose a dubious strategy, staying at the baseline and challenging the 31-year-old master of ground strokes to endless duels. "I didn't come in because I don't know why," Ivanisevic said. "It was a bad tactic. I just waited, waited, waited until I was dead." As he has all week, Lendl came from behind several times to win. After splitting the first two sets, Ivanisevic moved to 3-0 in the third. Although widely appreciated for his athletic abilities, the 19-year-old seems to succumb to emotional outbursts and mental lulls. Today, he double-faulted at several critical points: once to give Lendl a break at 4-4 in the third, and again on set point in the fourth. "He's young, he's wild with his shots," Lendl said. "He seems to self-destruct mentally. He's not consistent at all." Rostagno, a minor celebrity because of his penchant for scoring big upsets, had opportunities against Stich that he ultimately wasted. Stich was serving poorly, so he didn't attack the net with his usual conviction, allowing Rostagno to drill service returns. Twelve times Rostagno had break points, but converted only one. "I feel as though today was a dream, like I didn't really wake up," Rostagno said. "It was just an awkward day." In the tiebreaker, Stich suddenly found his serve, paralyzing Rostagno on the returns. And he also came up with a ballet-like running backhand cross-court winner that was so improbable it left Rostagno watching in astonishment. "It was just a question of surviving that match," Stich said. "If he had won that set I felt like he would have been on top." In Chang, Edberg found a determined, hungry opponent who forsook his baseline game and attacked the net ferociously. Ranked No. 22, the former French Open champion has rebounded recently, having added power to his serve and a more aggressive style of play. Although Edberg prevailed, Chang often forced him to perform gymnastic feats, diving for several volleys and stretching for overheads to win a single point. "He moves very quickly," Edberg said. "His best strength is his quickness." Edberg proved too powerful and too accurate for Chang, who nonetheless won a victory for himself as he attempts to climb back up the rankings. "It came down to Stefan playing the big points better," Chang said. "Hats off to him." TODAY'S FEATURED MATCHES MEN Pete Sampras (6), Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., vs. David Wheaton (11), Deephaven, Minn.; Jimmy Connors, Santa Ynez, Calif., vs. Aaron Krickstein, Grosse Pointe, Mich.; Jim Courier (4), Dade City, Fla., vs. Emilio Sanchez (14), Spain; John McEnroe, New York, and Patrick McEnroe, Cove Neck, N.Y., vs. Ronnie Bathman and Rikard Bergh, Sweden.WOMEN Steffi Graf (1), Germany, vs. Judith Wiesner, Austria; Martina Navratilova (6), Aspen, Colo., vs. Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere (10), Switzerland; Conchita Martinez (8), Spain, vs. Zina Garrison (12), Houston