Ilie enjoys Ride, but
Scud has Last Laugh
By Trevor Grand
AS LONG as they've been hitting furry balls across nets
for money, tennis has happily blurred the lines between enter-
tainment and hard-nosed competitive sport.
Get yourself an act together, a bit of attitude, play to the crowd and
you are on your way. Of course you need to have more than a modicum
of ability, but you are guaranteed plenty of attention if you can make
a statement with something more than your racquet.
It's got to be said that Andrew Tile, ranked 54 in the world, is a very
capable professional tennis player. But it's a fair bet that many of the
people who came to centre court yesterday to see him play Mark
Philippoussis would recognise him, first and foremost, as the loveable,
hyperactive Aussie who rips his shirt from his back every time he wins.
It's not as if The has invented sideshow alley at big-time tennis. As
far back as 1976, when Jimmy Connors and The Nastase wandered out
for a doubles match at, of all places, Wimbledon, dressed in bowler hats
and rugby jerseys, the sport was showing its theatrical bent.
However, then and now, one thing has always been certain. When the
hype stops and the bails start flying, it's the tennis that will always count.
Ilie has done a wonderful job this week, getting himself to the third
round with some rousing, aggressive play and endearing himself to the
masses along the way. His red bandanna, his duck walk, and his shirt-ripping antics have
won him a place in the public hearts.
They sing little ditties "Come on Ille, let's go silly" and they laugh
out loud when he waggles his back side while waiting to return service.
But none of this yesterday could do anything to stop what was effec
tively a service slaughter.
The joyride for The and his happy-go-lucky mob of fans came to a
stunning halt when Philippoussis, as dark, menacing and impassive ever,
arrived to do the business under the closed roof on centre court.
He ripped the heart out of Ilie's game, serving 18 aces at speeds that
simply defy the best possible hand-eye co-ordination.
We knew we were in for an afternoon of blink and-miss tennis from
the start, Philippoussis cleaning up with three aces in his first service
game, the last of which flew past a gob-smacked ilie at 22lkmh.
When you serve at an average of 200kmh and find the service box with
regularity, as Philippoussis did yesterday, the reflexes, no matter how
finely tuned they may be, simply cannot cope. Throw in the still
conditions, courtesy of the closed roof, and the slicked-up courts and
you've got a virtual no-contest.
Ilie, who tried everything, apart from standing in the flower boxes to
take serve, (which might not have been such a bad idea), felt no shame
yesterday, and neither he should have.
He worked as feverishly as any player mid in the face of this
assault and he tried, on occasions, to break the stunned courtside
silence with a little fun and games.
"When you play a player like Mark and he's playing well on the day, it's
just difficult to get anywhere. It was just very difficult to return serves on
average around 190," he said, with more than a touch of resignation.
Ilie went into the match with a lot of momentum and plenty of
self-belief, even though he's not been beyond the fourth round in a
Grand Slam event and he's ranked 35 places behind his former junior
rival. At the same time, he was realistic enough to know where he
stood. "If anybody expected me to go out there and put the Superman
cape on and start flying around the court, they should be disappointed
because I wasn't Superman," he said.
Indeed, the suggestion that he was anything but a serious, committed,
competitive tennis professional was a source of considerable annoyance.
"I got called (on television) a little bit of a sideshow, the Andrew Ilie
sideshow. I'm not a sideshow. I'm just a guy up there trying to do his
best," he said.
"Just because I get excited about my performances, just because I try
hard and in the process I give a good show sometimes doesn't mean I'm a
sideshow or anything else."
While this may sound a little confusing coming from a player who
happily described himself as a freak the other day, he shouldn't get too
hung up on it. HE departs Melbourne Park with his reputation in-
tact, both as an entertainer and a solid, if not brilliant, player.
He gave the fans another memorable week and even managed to
prompt a little on-court levity from Philippoussis.
As soon as he sealed his victory, he Smiled, looked up to the crowd and
Motioned to rip off his shirt. In the end, though, it stayed on his
Back, which meant that for the moment we'll have to wait a little
Longer to find out whether he might be the real Superman this fortnight.
All will be revealed in the next Round, if as expected, he meets
Tournament favorite, Andre Agassi. It's a mouth-watering clash, which
Will have something for everyone. Indeed, if the on-court action is a
little dull, there'll be plenty of entertainment in sideshow alley with
Anna Kournikova and Steffi Graf cheering from opposite camps.
By LEO SCHLINK
MARK Philippoussis yesterday reprised his Davis Cup role as the silent assassin,
mercilessly eliminating former junior arch rival Andrew Ilie from the Australian
Open at Melbourne Park.
Utterly impervious to demonstrative Ilie's ballistic ground strokes and a temptation
to fight power with power, 16th seed Philippoussis surged to a fourth-round encounter
with world No. 1 and top seed Andre Agassi tomorrow.
Serving at an average speed of 200kmh - his fastest bomb registered at 22lkmh
Philippoussis did not face a break point in a supreme 6-4 7-6 (7 4) 6-1 dis-
missal of his fellow Victorian.
"Each match is definitely going better and better," Philippoussis said. "I was pleased
with the way I concentrated today and the rhythm on my serve was great. "I was very
happy I sustained my concentration for the whole match. I took my time well,
although I rushed a little bit in that last game, but I was very happy."
Philippoussis fired 18 aces past animated Ilie in perfectly still conditions under
Melbourne Park's retractable roof as less fortunate players dodged showers outside.
The Williamstown dynamo lost only two points on first serve during a scintillating
95-minute performance which erased memories of his indifferent efforts against qualifiers
Noam Okun and Raemon Sluiter in the first week.
Vulnerable against a barrage of serving excellence, The never had a chance.
Ilie described his reunion with Philippoussis as "a tough day". "I don't think I played
too bad, I hung in there," Ilie said. "It was just a couple of points, no more.
"It was difficult to get anywhere. I didn't play too bad, but he didn't give me any
openings and it was just very difficult to return serves on average around l9Okmh."
Fully recovered from neck, shin and achilles tendon problems, Philippoussis soared to
a stellar level of form reminiscent of his Davis Cup heroics against France in Nice
last month. Watched from the support box by Anna Kournikova, his father Nick, coaches
Gavin Hopper and Pat Cash and chiropractor Andreas Bizas, Philippoussis forged
to a pivotal service break midway through the first set as Ilie's concentration strayed
for the first time.
The second set was suffocatingly tight and predictably ended in a tie-break. Ilie was
Aggrieved when a backhand drive was called wide, television replays showed the ball
desperately close to the sideline, and then lost all momentum as Philippoussis stormed clear.
But even in the afterglow of a tremendous victory, Philippoussis refused to be drawn on the
prospect of squaring off against Agassi. "I never look ahead of myself" Philippoussis said.
"Inever look at the draw. Obviously I knew that he's (Agassi's) a seed that I'm going to reach
if I got there.
"It's tough out there. You saw Pete's match today. You can't expect things to go the way it
so often does. I'm not saying the women's, but everything is so tough in the men's, there's no
easy matches.
"The last two times I played him (Agassi), he beat me pretty good. I remember those matches
and what happened. But every match is a different match, but I'm looking forward to it."
Philippoussis continues to receive treatment twice a day on his neck from Bizas.
He reported none of the soreness which forced him out of the Colonial Classic final against
Agassi a week ago and, according to Hopper, retains "a great focus". "Mark had a few nervous
matches to begin with, but the last match and a half, he's played great and he's got great focus
at the moment," Hopper said
Philippoussis also oozes confidence after his brilliant serving against Ilie.
"The rhythm was there. I sustained it for the whole match, which is very important and I
think my concentration helped," Philippoussis said. "I was very happy."
Philippoussis and Agassi haveplayed three times. The Australian won in two
tiebreaks in Philadelphia two years ago, hut was comfortably beaten last year in Paris and
Stuttgart, winning a maximum of six games.
I wish I didn't have to play Scud this early: Agassi
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) - No.1 seed Andre Agassi set up a fourth-round matchup with big-hitting Australian Mark Philippoussis by winning at the Australian Open on Friday. Now he's praying the sun comes out and the wind picks up.
The American wasted little time in dispatching Argentine Mariano Zabaleta 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in the third round while Philippoussis, the 16th seed, was equally efficient in beating compatriot Andrew Ille 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.
As always, Agassi's returns of serve were lethal as he relished the indoor conditions with the roof shut due to rain.
However, on Sunday he's hoping Melbourne has one of its notorious hot and windy January days.
"I played Mark indoors last fall twice (in wins at Stuttgart, Germany, and Paris) and, I tell you, when there's no elements whatsoever, the guy's one of the biggest and cleanest hitters of the ball out there," he said.
"So, you know, that's a tough scenario to play him. He can still muscle through the court and if the ball is not moving around and he's getting a good whack at it, it's a lot of a problem.
"I'd like it to be 42 degress (Celsius) and extremely windy. I certainly feel like I played well tonight but I suspect I'm going to have to do some special things on Sunday."
While Agassi, the only player to win all four Grand Slams since they have all been played on different surfaces, is equally at home on both fast and slow courts, he believes the lightning pace of Melbourne Park this year is definitely to Philippoussis' advantage.
"He gets two chances on every point to win the point without playing any tennis," he said referring to Australian's booming serve. "If I get any opportunities on his serve, I have to capitalize on them because he is only going to give you a few looks at breaking him.
"And when I do break his serve, I have to make sure I'm not breaking it to get back into the match."
Agassi said Philippoussis will go all the way if he wins their fourth-round clash. The Australian said he was getting close to his optimum level.
"Every match is getting better and better," he said. "All I'm trying to do is keep my concentration going, my focus, and just play the way I should be playing."
Philippoussis wins battle of Aussies
MELBOURNE, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Home-town hero Mark
Philippoussis served up a warning to his rivals at the
Australian Open on Friday with a straight-sets demolition of
compatriot Andrew Ilie.
Philippoussis, on a high after steering Australia to victory
in the Davis Cup final last month, slammed 18 aces past a
bemused Ilie in a 6-4 7-6 6-1 third-round win in 95 minutes.
The 23-year-old Ilie is reknowned for his habit of ripping
his shirts in two in an on-court celebration after wins but
against Philippoussis he probably felt like doing it out of
frustration.
Serving at speeds of up to 221 kmh (138 mph), the fastest by
any player in the tournament to date, the 16th-seeded
Philippoussis never once faced break point on his own service
and just picked his moments to attack his gritty rival.
With Anna Kournikova cheering him on from the stands, a
pumped-up Philippoussis completed a comfortable victory in a
match played with the centre-court roof closed after morning
rain.
"Each match is definitely going better and better," said
Philippoussis, who could face Andre Agassi in his next match if
the top seed wins his third-round encounter with Argentine
Mariano Zabaleta as expected.
"I was pleased with the way I concentrated today and the
rhythm on my serve was great."
Ilie is also known for his fist-pumping and excitable antics
on court. During the second set tiebreak he did a dancing-style
jig while waiting to receive serve.
But it was something that escaped a focussed Philippoussis.
"All I'm trying to do is just keep my concentration going,
my focus and just play the way I should," he said. "I was just
doing what I had to do."
Afterwards he resisted the temptation to imitate Ilie's
shirt-ripping antics despite briefly grabbing at the neck of his
top.
"I was going to but then I got scared that maybe I couldn't
quite rip it and that I wouldn't look good out there,"
Philippoussis said.
Asked about the possibility of facing Agassi, he said: "I
never look ahead, I never look at the draw but obviously I know
he's (Agassi) a seed I was going to play if I reach that stage."
The big-hitting Australian is hoping to become the first
Australian man to win his home title since Mark Edmondson in
1976.
Also vying for the honour is compatriot Lleyton Hewitt, who
stormed into the third round on Thursday by allowing Spain's
Alex Corretja just one game in three sets.
Scud ready for Agassi
From AAP
21jan00
MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS extracted the maximum from himself and the fastest court in the world today to blast his way into the fourth round of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park.
In an all-Australian third-rounder, Philippoussis brushed aside his former junior rival Andrew Ilie 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 6-1, the win setting up a likely round of 16 clash with top seed Andre Agassi.
Philippoussis produced by far his best tennis of the championships to overpower an opponent who said the difference between the two was only "a couple of points", but which was really around 30km/h.
"I didn't think I played too bad," Ilie said.
He didn't, but Philippoussis, after a couple of indifferent matches against players he should have beaten easily, put it together in awesome style today.
Philippoussis sent down eight of his 18 aces in the first set to establish a superiority that was only threatened in the tiebreak.
But Ilie gave the impression that he was only barely hanging on, a situation that was verified in the final set.
Agassi now lays in wait for the highest-ranked Australian in the tournament, with Pete Sampras likely to be lurking in the semi-finals.
While the third-seeded Sampras, a two-time champion here, is the tournament favourite, his grip on a third title was loosened today by Zimbabwean qualifier Wayne Black.
Sampras survived 6-7 (9-11) 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-3, but was far from convincing, complaining that he had trouble finding his range.
He also had difficulty finding Black's range for much of a match in which he came perilously close to being dumped from the championship.
In the end, it was the best serve in the game that got Sampras over the line and into a fourth-round match against Slava Dosedel of the Czech Republic.
Sampras blasted down a career-best 36 aces on a court he said was playing faster than the Wimbledon grass.
The speed of the much-maligned Melbourne Park centre court was assisted by the roof being closed above it today, but Sampras said the combination of balls, weather and surface here was still the slickest in the game.
"This is the fastest conditions I've ever been part of," he said.
Sampras also promoted the prospects of the only other Australian remaining in men's singles, Lleyton Hewitt, who plays his third-rounder tomorrow night against Adrian Voinea of Romania.
"He's for real," Sampras said of Hewitt.
"I mean, there's no question, he's going to be around for many years."
One more week would do.
Brave Ilie cannot overcome the odds
By CHIP Le GRAND
22jan00
THEIR respective entourages say a lot about where Mark Philippoussis and Andrew Ilie sit in the tennis world.
Sitting front-row courtside for Philippoussis were his father, Nick, and coaches Gavin Hopper and Pat Cash. Beside Philippoussis senior sat the most sought after prize in tennis – not the Wimbledon trophy but Anna Kournikova – her mother and some bigwig from Nike.
Ilie's camp was up in nosebleed territory, two rows from the back wall of Rod Laver Arena. No celebrity coaches or girlfriend, just a bunch of blokes in red shirts and santa hats singing silly songs of encouragement.
Actually, it was probably just as well Nick Philippoussis was sitting in the front row, as a buffer between Kournikova and Ilie, who unless the eyes of this correspondent were mistaken, kept staring fixedly at the blonde Russian every time he won a big point at her end.
Philippoussis and Ilie are fierce rivals from their junior days. If Ilie had won, he could have been pictured ripping off his shirt, hopping into the stands, scooping Kournikova over his shoulder and scaling the heights of the stadium.
Safely for Kournikova and anybody who dared get between her and a triumphantly deranged Romanian-turned-Australian, the only bare chest the full house at centre court saw was that of Philippoussis, when he changed his shirt after the second set en route to a straight-sets win.
There is nothing like two local boys going at it on centre court at the Australian Open. Even tour players were turned away at the door of Rod Laver Arena as nearly every seat – including those in the oft-vacant corporate boxes – was taken.
That the match never eventuated into much mattered little. Philippoussis provided the power and poise, Ilie the pantomime and pathos, and between games, Kournikova set off her own personal Mexican wave as she jogged up the aisle in her tight-fitting T-shirt and snugly-cut cargo pants.
For the record, Kournikova says she and Philippoussis are just good friends.
Quizzed about her involvement with "Scud" – after all, if their pairing were true, it would have a doubles ranking second only to Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi – Kournikova neither confirmed nor denied rumours of the dalliance, thus ensuring tongues will continue to wag for the rest of the summer. With Cash offering his encouragement – "That's it mate" – and the Ilie cheer squad offering theirs – "Ilie, Ilie, Ilie, Oi, Oi Oi" – crowd support for the two players was evenly divided.
The local rivalry inside the stadium, and dark skies and a frosty southerly wind outside, gave the whole thing the feeling of a football game rather than a tennis match, as those without centre court tickets braved the cold before a big screen at Melbourne Park.
The result of the game became inevitable once it was apparent that, try as he might, Ilie just could not get a handle on the Philippoussis serve. He managed to latch onto a couple of brutal returns, and one or two rallies earned roars of approval from the home-town crowd, but it was not to be his day.
The first two rounds of this tournament did belong to him and his shirt-ripping celebrations, patented double grunts, that bandana atop his hat, and those baseline winners he produces.
So when the outstretched racquet of Philippoussis produced the winning volley to end his Australian Open, Ilie doffed his cap to his opponent and stood mid-court to applaud the crowd, who stood to applaud him.