Sportstoday

29th August 2000

Mark Philippoussis' camp is happy and relaxed but the controversial Melburnian needs a substantial form boost if he is to threaten again at the US Open.

Philippoussis, 23, made his only grand slam final here in 1998, when beaten by Pat Rafter in four sets.

The 15th seed and the unseeded Rafter are drawn to meet again here in the third round, a match that would be surrounded by intense hype given the pair's recent spat over Philippoussis' unavailability for the Davis Cup semi-final.

For his part, Rafter said yesterday he was oblivious to the possible match-up, insisting he had looked no further than his first round against Galo Blanco.

But first, Philippoussis needs to reverse a poor run on the American hardcourt circuit to be sure of even getting past another Spaniard, Albert Portas, and American Jan-Michael Gambill, who he is drawn to meet in the second round.

Philippoussis took two weeks off after Wimbledon and has produced only mediocre form in his four hardcourt efforts since.

He lost in the second round at Los Angeles to American Justin Gimelstob, in the first at Toronto to Armenian Sargis Sargsian, in the third at Cincinnati to Spaniard Fernando Vicente, and in his first match at Washington two weeks ago to Brazilian Andre Sa.

As usual, Philippoussis was not talking to the media before the tournament, but coach Gavin Hopper said he was ``feeling pretty good'' and that his knee was fine.

Rafter, chasing a third title here in four years, has played Blanco once, and defied the Spanish trait by defeating him on clay, in straight sets, in the quarter-finals of the French Open in 1997.

``I just want to play my game and if I do, it should be good enough to win on this surface,'' said Rafter.

Of the three other Australians in the bottom eighth of the draw, Wayne Arthurs meets second seed Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten in round one, Richard Fromberg plays Swiss Davis Cup player George Bastl, and Jason Stoltenberg faces Dutchman Jan Siemerink.

In the women's draw, Jelena Dokic, ranked 43rd, plays 41st-ranked Israeli Anna Smashnova, while Newcastle qualifier Rachel McQuillan plays Japan's Shinobu Asagoe.