by LEO SCHLINK

MARK Philippoussis's Aus-

tralian Open hopes rest in the

hands of Davis Cup chiropractor

Andreas Bisaz after the US Open

finalist withdrew yesterday from

the Colonial Classic final with a

neck injury.

Philippoussis will have more

treatment today on a stiff and sore

neck before the right-hander ven-

tures to the practice courts at

Melbourne Park mid-afternoon to

gauge his fitness.

He is drawn to play his first

round match against a qualifier

tomorrow, but opted not to ask

Australian Open officials for an

extra day in his preparation.

Philippoussis's no-show left

tournament organisers stunned

and some fans irate.

Fitness coach Gavin Hopper

said the Victorian had been ad-

vised by Bisaz to bypass yester-

day's showdown with world No. 1

Andre Agassi for fear of aggravat-

ing the injury.

"Andreas thought with Mark

going through a full match, there

was a chance of doing further

damage," Hopper said. "At this

stage, we're hopeful the injury is

only a 24-hour thing.

"If he played against Andre, it

could take a lot longer for him to

get over it. Mark had the same

injury in Perth, but it was on the

other side of his neck.

"Mark had an hour's treatment

today before the ducision was

made. He is really disappointed for

`Stubsy' (tournament director

Cohn Stubs) and he would have

loved to have played the final.

`But everything is going too

good at the moment. Mark is

hitting the ball too well and he's in

too good a shape to risk further

injury.

Philippoussis had stormed into

the Kooyong final with wins over

defending Australian Open cham-

pion Yevgeny Kafelnikov and

Wimbledon champion Pete

Sampras.

The Williamstown right-hander

is third favorite behind Agassi and

Sampras for the Open, which be-

gins tomorrow.

Injury-prone Philippoussis, who

withdrew from the Hopman Cup

with shin splints after earlier suf-

fering a neck problems, will be

tested today by Hopper and coach

Pat Cash, who is confident his

charge will be fit for the Open.

"I think he'll be OK," Cash said.

Stubs yesterday released Agassi

from the tournament leaving a

near-capacity crowd to watch

Sampras down substitute Vince

Spadea before Richard Fromberg

played Karim Alami as mid-

summer rain arrived to further

dampen proceedings.

The original match program had

Sampras squaring off against

Thomas Enqvist before

Philippoussis was to challenge

Agassi.

But the schedule began to disin-

tegrate when Australian Open

finalist Enqvist was unable to take

his place because of chronic

shoulder soreness.

Then came the Philippoussis

blow.

Former Australian Open direc-

tor Stubs was shattered by the

sequence of events.

"I'm pretty disappointed and it

causes a helluva lot of aggravation

with sponsors, television, the pub-

lic and box holders," Stubs said.

"It's a nightmare actually.

"Two or three hours ago, I had a

call from Gavin Hopper who said

Mark had woken up with a stiff

neck and he immediately went to

see a chiropractor. He had treat-

ment for an hour or so and was

advised not to play, bearing in

mind what he had ahead of him

"The chiropractor felt it was too

much of a risk to take to play, so he

(Philippoussis) apologetically

withdrew."

Sampras was prepared to leap

into the Colonial Classic void

created by Philippoussis's with-

drawal, but his offer to play an

exhibition match against Andre

Agassi went unrewarded.

Agassi will have to wait another

year to collect his Classic trophy

and $2500 Rado watch after organ

isers were forced to abandon the

presentation because of rain.

Agassi was to be presented with

the trophy after the match be-

tween Fromberg and Alami, but

play was abandoned after 62 mm

utes with Fromberg leading the

first set 6-5 on serve.