Daily News from New York, New York • 632

CM Lii duds Uil VJOI rin IF dlciffdaft By LUKE CYPHERS Daily News Sports Writer One moment, Shuzo Matsuoka was leading the match of the day at the U.S. Open, hoping to pull off a minor upset over Petr Korda. The next, he was writhing in pain defeated and alone on the Grandstand Court. For four riveting sets, Matsuoka was locked in a fierce struggle with the 39th-ranked Korda. The first three sets had all gone to tiebreakers.

Matsuoka, ranked 64th, had won two of them, and trailed, 6-5, in the fourth, three hours and 26 minutes into the match. That's when disaster struck, in the form of acute muscle cramps in both thighs. After he won the first point of the 12th game, Matsuoka collapsed, and for three frightening minutes, he lay crying on the hard-. court, paralyzed by the pain. "All I could t', ft 4 1 4" off ort for llriclistein By WAYNE COFFEY Daily News Sports Writer Aaron Krickstein, master of the tennis marathon, wishes he could work faster on occasion.

He will not, however, argue with his results. "Sometimes I play my best matches in five-setters," Krickstein said after opening his Open in familiar fashion, going the distance and winning. Yesterday's victim was Lionel Koux, a Frenchman ranked No. 71. The score was 3-6.

6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. For the 28-year-old Krickstein, who is No. 50 in the world, the triumph hiked his five-set Open record to 9-2. It hiked his five-set record everywhere to 28-7. "I'm well aware of my record and how I have done in five-setters," Krickstein said.

"I think a lot of people are, as well, so it kind of vorks both ways for me. "Usually, after three, four hours on the court. I feel like if I have gotten the player that far, then I am going to be in better shape than he is so I tend to bear down and seem to play some of my best tennis at the end. The victory over Roux was relatively brief for Krickstein, lasting only 3 hours, 2 minutes. It came on Court 18, before a boisterous crowd even by Open standards, highlighted by a guy in the front row who was making a lot of noise about suntans.

Krickstein first played the Open in 1993. He said he'd never heard anybody louder. "But you can't not expect it," he said. "You have to expect anything." Charge by Sarge: It was quite a day for Sargis Sargsian, 1995 NCAA champion from Arizona State who became the first Armenian to play in a Grand Slam tournament and the first one to win, with a 7-6 (7-1). 2-6, 4 6, 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Michael Joyce of Los Angeles.

A former pupil of the Soviet junior program, Sargsian could scarcely find courts, instruction or even tennis balls after Armenia separated from the Soviet Union. In January 1993, while playing in the States with the Armenian national team against Ivy League schools, Sargsian met the Man-sourians of Orange, Conn. The family invited him to stay. Sargsian has not been home or seen his family since, though his mother and brother are supposed to visit next week. Around the Open: Frenchman Jerome Golmard's victory over Wayne Ferreira, lOth-seeded South African, made him only the 10th qualifier in Open history to knock off a seeded player.

The last time it happened was 1993, when Neil Borwick upset No. 13 Ivan Lendl. Andre Medvedev, 16th seed and constant critic, defeated Morocco's Hicham Arazi, and showed a much more agreeable side than in years past when he complained loudly about everything from the cramped locker rooms to the overdone spaghetti. The locker rooms have been redesigned. The food has been OK Andre is happy.

Very happy. "It makes me feel good," he said. do was scream," Matsuoka said. Despite his obvious agony, tennis rules prevented anyone from assisting Matsuoka. He was not technically injured, but instead suffered from "loss of condition" and any medical attention would have meant automatic disqualification.

Korda wanted to help, but couldn't, citing rules that would have disqualified him had he crossed the net "No one could help him at that point unless he could help himself, which I feel is a very crazy rule," Korda said. "If no one can help you, you can get really hurt." Meanwhile, 'y -J i- MARRY HAMBURQ DAILY NEWS CRAMPS HIS STYLE: After writhing on court alone, Shuzo Matsuoka gets assistance that had been denied because it means an automatic DQ. i I a officials issued Matsuoka a warning for failing to serve after the allotted 20 seconds. They docked him a point after another 20 seconds, and finally awarded Korda the match by default. Matsuoka, who said he had a similar episode in a Japanese Davis Cup match, felt twinges before he collapsed.

But he was leading, so he pressed on. Though he said he feared "breaking every muscle with cramping," Matsuoka didn't disagree with the rule that left him there on the court. "I think it is a (correct) rule," he said. 0 Teen queen: Fourteen-year-old Martina Hingis, making her debut at the Open, defeated Nancy Feber, 6-2, 6-3. The Swiss teenager is seen, along with Venus Williams, who isn't playing here, as a future WTAstar.

Martina successor Marianne Werdel Witmeyer was elected Sunday as president of the WTA Players Association. She succeeds Martina Navratilova, who held the position a year. Werdel-Witmeyer, a 27-year-old Californian, is ranked 24th. Edberg moves up: Stefan Edberg moved into third place on the Grand Slam victory list yesterday. He jumped ahead of John McEnroe with 168 wins.

He trails Jimmy Connors (233) and Ivan Lendl (222). in CNJ HOWARD SMMMONS OAU.Y MEWS SIGN HERE, PLEASE: Mary Pierce is mobbed by autograph seekers after her straight-set victory over of South Africa yesterday..