July 2, 2000

What a match, what an incredible match. Mark Philippoussis and Sjeng Schalken played what is believed to be the longest match in one day at the Championships. After five hours of high quality tennis Philippoussis served 44 aces and locked up his place in the last 16 of Wimbledon 2000 by the score of 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 20-18. It was a stunning effort!

Played on Court Two, the "Graveyard Court", it was getting to the stage where both Philippoussis and Schalken would have been needing headstones. It was a match that didn't deserve to have a loser because it was played with great sportsmanship, no histrionics but just great serves, some stupendous points from both players and a great deal of respect between the two combatants.

"I hung in there, I stayed mentally tough," said Philippoussis. "We were both tired, I was very tired, It's a little tough in the whole of the fifth set where I'm serving, a game away from the match - last one that serves is always going to be a little tougher.

"I have always considered myself a fighter and that was a good match for me just to hang in there. I very much enjoyed that match. Those are the kind of matches that I'm proud of. that's why you play tennis, those kind of matches. The crowd, they're into it, enjoying themselves.

"Now that I've finished and I've take a deep breath, the tournament just started, we're in the second week. It's like nothing to get excited about. I'm happy I go through that."

Pat Rafter played yet another wonderful match and reached the last 16 with a 6-2, 7-6, 6-3 win over Rainer Schuttler. The Australian is of the opinion, and plenty of others would agree, that he is a very strong contender for the title. His classic serve and volley game makes him one of the few such players left in the men's draw.

"I am very determined and when I am out on the court, I'm very focused again - it's been a while since I felt like that and it's good," said Rafter. "I served really well, especially on the big points. I pretty well took most of my chances. I was just very determined and I think that's the difference I've had coming into this week compared to the last few Grand Slam tournaments that I have played in."

He says his shoulder is fine and he has no doubts about it. There is no weakness in it but Rafter continues to work on it, as he says: "It's continually getting good endurance work on it."

Gustavo Kuerten was not well. The recently crowned French Open champion came into Wimbledon with the benefit of a lead-up grass event and for a while was going along rather well but against Alexander Popp he was not able to raise his level of play because he was feeling quite poorly.

Kuerten became the tenth men's sed to crash out of Wimbledon as the towering figure of Popp took control 7-6, 6-2, 6-1. It was a win the German who also carries a British passport said was "probably the nicest day of my life up to now".

In the first set Kuerten was playing well but physically he did not feel as strong as he would have liked and once the set was over he was feeling quite tired, the legacy of a cold he has had for a few days now.

"It started when I was in Brazil before I come here and it didn't go away," said Kuerten. "I think after I played two days, I feel a little bit worse with fever and in my throat. It's tough to see whether you can do well or not in these big tournaments because something like this can happen, and maybe you take you chance a little bit less, but he was too strong for me."

Popp said the secret for his success was that he remained relaxed most of the time and did not tighten up. He just played the match and didn't try to do anything extra. Popp, who at 6'7" towers over every player, believed he had Kuerten rattled after the first set and he realised what a great chance he had.

Popp could play Davis Cup for either Germany (his father is German) or Britain (his mother is British) but that is something he has not thought about and would like to prove first that he is good enough to play and "beat the great guys before I really go into playing for a country".

Jennifer Capriati reached the last 16 after a slow start. She trailed Yayuk Basuki 2-5 and complained about band music that was being played on Centre Court, but she managed to turn the match around and finish strongly 7-6, 6-0.

Lindsay Davenport at last showed some very fine tennis as she defeated Paola Suarez 6-4, 6-2. The second seed feels that her form is not as great as it was last year when she was really confident and timing the ball very well.

"This time it didn't start off that way, I was really fighting it for a few days, but finally the last two or three days it has clicked a little better, hopefully, I think it is coming around," said Davenport. "This match was a lot easier than the other day, I'll take two sets over three sets when I'm down any day, but it got much better as the match went on. I felt like I was timing the ball better in the second set. If anything that was a good step that I needed to take."

In other results, there were wins for Venus Williams, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Tim Henman who faces Philippoussis in the last 16. That match is the only fourth round in the men's draw between two seeds.