Edberg’s Noise Made Solely by His Racket : U.S. Open: No. 2 player, outgoing only when he leaves for the court, bangs his way into the semifinals.

NEW YORK —  Is Stefan Edberg bland? Well, even if his favorite color is beige, if vanilla is his favorite flavor or if he taps his feet to Muzak, Edberg is the source of something totally unexpected at the U.S. Open.

It’s flair.

Edberg isn’t boring here. In fact, he’s playing like an absolute extrovert. He simply isn’t talking like one.

“I am happy with the way I am playing right now and I am looking forward to my next match,” he said.

Wonderful. But before he could talk everyone to sleep, Edberg woke everyone up with another swashbuckling exhibition of serve-and-volley tennis Wednesday, rolling past Javier Sanchez, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3, in 1 hour 42 minutes.

Afterward, Edberg bubbled with enthusiasm . . . Edberg style: “This is great--that is all I can say.”

A shot maker, not a wordsmith, Edberg reached the U.S. Open semifinal with dispatch and is playing so well that he may actually have a chance at the final, uncharted territory for the 25-year-old Swede.

Edberg was an Open semifinalist in 1986 and 1987, but hasn’t been able to get out of the fourth round in his six other U.S. Open appearances.

The low light occurred last year, when he went into the Open with four consecutive tournament victories and a No. 1 ranking, then lost to Alexander Volkov in the first round.

“(Last year) when I had the winning streak, it was just a matter of time before you are going to lose it,” Edberg said. “It happened in the first round of the Open last year, so I tried to aim to play better this year and, you know, now I have gone through four matches here and I have sort of lifted my game to where I want it right now.”

The quarterfinal match between Ivan Lendl and Michael Stich was postponed in the third set because of rain with Stich leading, 6-3, 3-6, 4-3, 40-15.

The match, which had a 1-hour 29-minute rain delay after the second set, is scheduled to be completed after today’s quarterfinal between Pete Sampras and Jim Courier.

Edberg’s fourth-round straight-set victory over Michael Chang served notice that the No. 2-ranked player was serious about improving his status in the Grand Slam event in which he has been least successful.

Then he followed it with a demolition of Sanchez, an accomplished clay-court player. The weight of Edberg’s numbers was great--he won the point 41 of the 48 times he got his first serve in; knocked 41 winners, compared to only 22 unforced errors, and won an astounding 76% of his approaches to the net--67 of 88.

All of this prompted Tony Pickard, Edberg’s coach, to call it one of his best matches of the hard-court season.

“I’m very, very pleased,” Pickard said. “Especially because of how we came in. Last year, he came in with everything and we lost in the first round. This year, we came in with nothing and now look.

“By his standards, he hasn’t had a good year. These are standards he set himself, though.”

At the Australian Open, Edberg lost to Lendl in a five-set semifinal. In the French, he lost to eventual champion Jim Courier in a four-set quarterfinal and at Wimbledon to eventual champion Michael Stich in a four-set semifinal in which he never lost his serve.

Edberg has not won a tournament since the Japan Open, a hard-court event in mid-April, and has only two titles this year. But he said he is not surprised by how easily he has advanced through the difficult draw.

“Why should I be?” Edberg said. “I should be able to play well here. We are playing on a hard court, which I play on well normally anywhere else I play.”

There have been a few more subtle changes in Edberg, which may or may not have something to do with his success at this tournament. He has given up his flat at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue for a rented house with a swimming pool on Long Island.

“We wanted to get rid of all the hassles of Manhattan,” Pickard said. “So far, it’s working.”

* WOMEN’S MATCHES: Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova advanced to a Friday semifinal matchup. C7