South China Morning Post

Australian teenager Mark Philippoussis now carries the hopes of a nation hungry for former glory after his shock three-set victory over world number one Pete

Sampras in the Australian Open.

The tall 19-year-ols, known on the circuit as "Scud" for his missile-like shots, played the tennis of his life to shut Sampras out of the third round in a performance that

awed seasoned veterans of the game, including Sampras himself.

But behind the deafening standing ovation that capped off one of the great upsets of Grand Slam tennis was an almost palpable sense that here, at last, was

Australia's first chance in almost a decade to produce a champion.

Among the 15,000 or so people who got to their feet were two former Grand Slam champions, John Newcombe and Tony Roche, who in the 1960s were perhaps

the last to bask in the golden age of Australian tennis.

As if to expose the long drought that has plagued the Australian game, the nation's most recent Grand Slam champion was also in the crowd - Pat Cash who won

Wimbledon in 1987 and then little else.

Beneath headlines reading "Mark's our new ace" and "Scud sinks Sampras", newspaper reports of the match peppered their description of the heart-thumping tussle

with the words that reflected a national desire for greatness again.

"Melbourne's Mark Philippoussis last night took a giant step towards becoming Australia's next tennis champion," said the Nick Bollettieri-coached teenager's

home-town daily The Sunday Age.

Australia has looked for budding champions before, only to sink them under a rising tide of expectations.

Last year it was Australian Pat Rafter, given a real chance by the local media, who crumpled under the fourth-round Australian Open onslaught of American Andre

Agassi in straight sets.

This time, the top players themselves are the first to recognise that the ethnic Greek son of a Melbourne restaurateur has the potential to go all the way after his

ranking rocketed from a lowly 304 in the last year.

Sampras almost prophesied his own downfall earlier this week when he agreed that the now 40th-ranked Philippoussis was the man to watch in 1996.

"He has the weapons and that's the first think I look at in a young guy coming up...and he certainly has the serve and the second serve," Sampras said after beating

compatriot Michael Joyce in the second round on Thursday.

Former world number ones Boris Becker and Jim Courier also praised the Australian's game, but cautioned against the over-eager Australian media.

"I just hope that you let Mark breathe a little bit because it's so much pressure on a man only 19," Becker told a news conference before Philippoussis blasted into

the final 16 where he will meet compatriot Mark Woodforde.

"It is very tough to handle that and he's been called the next Australian hope, or whatever. Last year it was Patrick Rafter and look what happened to him. But in

general I think he is very, very talented. He can go a long way."

Rafter's ranking has slipped from 21 to 70 in the past 12 months and he withdrew from this year's tournament in the second round with a wrist injury.

Courier agreed with Becker: "I hope that the media doesn't put too much pressure on him this year. He's young and when you're young you can believe that stuff a

little bit more than you should. I hope he doesn't but into it."