South China Morning Post

Pete Sampras lost his world number one ranking when he was bludgeoned out of the Australian Open in straight sets yesterday by towering Australian teenager

Mark Philippoussis.

Playing in front of a fiercely partisan home crowd on the Flinders Park Centre Court, the 19-year-old Philippoussis produced the performance of his young life to

decisively beat the top-seeded American 6-4, 7-6 (11-9), 7-6 (7-3) in two hours and 13 minutes.

Sampras, who had won 16 consecutive Grand Slam matches, including the Wimbledon and US Open, had few answers to his opponent's pounding serves and

penetrating ground strokes which grew more confident and lethal as the end drew near.

His stunning exit means that Sampras loses the number one spot to fellow Amercian and world number two Andre Agassi or Austrian Thomas Muster, who are both

through to the final 16.

Sampras, in his worst Grand Slam result in five years, tried charging the net to take control of the match in the third set but failed to prevent a deciding tie-break.

The tall Australian, known as "Scud", sensing he was on the brink of a historic victory, used his punishing serve which was timed at speeds of over 200 km/h (125

mph) and which produced 29 aces to race ahead 6-1 in the final tie-break and set up-five match points.

Sampras clawed back to 6-3 but netted a return to bring the crowd to their feet in a deafening ovation as much as for the stunning quality of the tennis as for the

result.

A resigned Sampras later pointed to his 40th-ranked rival's serve as the key to his improbable victory.

"I did not play badly but when he's serving that big there is nothing you can do. He is very talented. Time will tell if he can be that consistent week in, week out," he

told a post-match news conference.

Sampras was astonished that Philippoussis could keep up the momentum of his game.

"I was hoping he would miss a little bit," said Sampras, who came into the tournament after recovering from a heavy bout of influenza which forced him out of a

warm-up event last week, though he did not give that as an excuse.

"I felt pretty fresh coming in," he said.

"He was just on today. He has definitely improved over the last six months. He was on top of his game and I was surprised he could keep it up for the whole three

sets."

Sampras had warned before the match that Philippoussis would be dangerous after he had taken him to four sets in the early round of the 1995 US Open, which

Sampras went on to win. Philippoussis, still shaking his head at the power and accuracy he unleashed on his serve, told reporters after the match that he never felt

better on his own delivery.

"Tonight was like nothing else I have felt before. I felt I couldn't do anything wrong on the service tonight," he said.

"I was so confident on my serve I just felt I could toss it up and ace (it). It was an unbelievable feeling."

Philippoussis said he tried to forget his opponent was the world's top player and took each point at a time, but his nerves told as he served for victory in final break.

"I was serving for the match and my hand was just shaking...I'm just happy the serve went in," he said.

"I believe in myself now and think that I can beat anyone in the world after tonight," he added.