MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS almost made a meal of his second match in a row at the Australian Open last night. He emerged the victor, 6-1 2-6 7-6 6-1, against Raemon Sluiter of the Netherlands, but not before he lapsed into a disturbing period of errors.
This was his second match against a largely unknown qualifier and although he could be excused for being unfamiliar with his opponent's game, there were signs that his concentration was wavering.
Philippoussis had a lucky escape in the first round against Israel's Noam Okun, who stretched the Australian to five sets, and he should have learnt a lesson from that experience.
Sluiter, who reached a high of 148 in the ATP Tour world rankings last November, also came through the qualifying tournament in Melbourne, then defeated Italy's Andrea Gaudenzi in the first round.
The 21-year-old right-hander is a competent player but should not have represented a problem for the local favourite. Philippoussis said he had suffered a loss of concentration in the second set but other than that, he was happy with his work.
He said he was "feeling great" with no recurrence of the pain in his neck, the soreness in his shin or the illness he complained of after his close call against Okun. "I made sure I ate all the right things so it didn't happen again," he said.
Philippoussis, projected to play Andre Agassi in the fourth round, whipped through the first set as though he had an appointment to keep.
He held his serve to love in the first game then broke Sluiter in the second by forcing a forehand error.
The Australian served another perfect game and jumped out to a 4-0 lead with another break of serve.
The Dutchman, a resident of Rotterdam, was at a loss, scarcely winning a point against the imposing serve of Philippoussis.
The No. 16 seed concluded the first set with an ace and it seemed he would not be delayed in securing a third-round match against his compatriot, Andrew Ilie, who earlier beat Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic.
But in the second set, Sluiter roused himself from his stunned state and began to find the corners with his solid groundstrokes.
He broke Philippoussis twice, in the fourth and eighth games, to level the match at one set all.
Philippoussis was making a startling number of unforced errors, upon which the Dutchman capitalised.
The Australian dropped his serve in the second game of the third set but broke back in the fifth when Sluiter committed a double fault.
Both players held their serves without alarm and a tiebreak was required to separate them.
Philippoussis made an immediate impact, winning a point on the Dutchman's first serve. They exchanged another point on each other's serve but Philippoussis hung on to his advantage to win the shootout 7-4.
The Australian regained the form he showed in the first set when the fourth hove into view.
He broke Sluiter twice and held his own serve easily to bring another troublesome match to its conclusion.
He said he was looking forward to playing Ilie, with whom he had some interesting battles at junior level.
"We had some fun times, put it that way," Philippoussis said. Apparently, there is no love lost between them.
Philippoussis was asked whether he would participate in the first round of the Davis Cup against Switzerland next month. "It depends what happens next week," he replied.
He said he was still talking with Davis Cup captain, John Newcombe. The mystery continues
TEN: SCUD SETS UP A THIRD ROUND CLASH WITH ILIE By Paul Gough (from SportCentral-AAP)
MELBOURNE, Jan 19 AAP - Mark Philippoussis set up an exciting third round meeting with fellow Victorian Andrew Ilie at the Australian Open tennis tonight after another stuttering performance.
Philippoussis, who needed five sets to overcome Israeli qualifer Noam Okun in the first round, tonight took almost two hours to quell little known Dutchman Raemon Sluiter 6-1 2-6 7-6 6-1 on the Rod Laver Arena.
In the end it was the booming serve of "The Scud" which came to his rescue as the 16th seed slammed down 27 aces, the last of them clinching victory against the game but outclassed Dutchman who had reached the second round via the tortuous qualifying path.
However it was also Philippoussis' serve that was the cause of his disastrous second set performance in which his first serve percentage dived to a measly 35 percent.
Earlier he looked as if he would crush Sluiter when he easily took the first set but the Dutchman not only breezed through the second set but also forced "Scud" into a tiebreak in the third set.
But it was in that tiebreak that the match swung in the local hero's favour 7-4 with three booming aces proving crucial.
Philippoussis said he is now looking forward to his clash with crowdpleaser Ilie, who earlier today became the first Australian through to the round of 32 (ripping off another shirt in the process) when he beat Czech Jiri Novak in four sets.
The pair have not played since their junior days and for the winner lies a probable fourth round clash with top seed and tournament favourite Andre Agassi.
"It might be me ripping my shirt off," Philippoussis joked of his upcoming showdown with Ilie.
When asked what he remembered off their clashes at junior level: Philippoussis said: "We had some fun, put it that way.
"But I'm going to prepare for him like I do all other matches.
"I've just got to make sure I go out there and do all the right things."
Philippoussis said he is actually pleased to be playing such a well known player in the next round after meeting qualifers in the opening two rounds.
"It has been difficult in the last two rounds because I had never seen either guy before or even heard of them," Philippoussis said.
"But I was feeling fitter out there tonight and I felt as though I could have gone five sets if I needed to."