Davis Cup captain John Newcombe said Philippoussis would have surgery on his left knee in New York on Tuesday. ``There is a tear in the cartilage so he'll be having that repaired,'' said Newcombe.

The injury came as Philippoussis held a onesettolove lead over Sampras and seemed headed for a place in the semifinals. Sampras seemed to think so. ``You were kicking my arse,'' the American told Philippoussis after the match.

While Philippoussis was stoic about the injury, saying ``I've got my health, I'm not dying or anything'', it came at a time when his powerful serve and booming groundstrokes seemed to have been enhanced by newfound maturity and mental toughness on the court. The 22yearold had been extremely confident before the tournament and had backed that selfbelief with some outstanding play until the moment his knee buckled beneath him.

Philippoussis believes he suffered the injury hitting a big backhand winner to set up break point early in the second set. When his knee began to stiffen despite treatment at the change of ends, he knew his tournament was over.

Meanwhile Newcombe says that 18yearold Lleyton Hewitt will replace Philippoussis as Australia's second singles player in the Davis Cup tie against the US in Boston starting on 16July.

``It's not good,'' said Newcombe of the loss of Philippoussis. ``But we are lucky to have someone who is playing as well as Lleyton has been playing to fill in.''

However Newcombe agreed the loss of Philippoussis was a major setback for his team. ``We would have been going in hoping that Philippoussis could win one of his two singles, whichever one it was. Lleyton has never played Davis Cup, so we are putting a rookie in and you would have to say that the odds have shifted slightly to the US. From being a 5050 match now it is slightly in their favor.''

Pat Rafter put a strong case for Hewitt's inclusion. ``I think competitively over the last few months Lleyton has been one of the most form players running around,'' he said. ``Pete (Sampras) is not going to want to play Lleyton straight up and Lleyton is going to run him around and he's a great little competitor. I think he definitely has a chance.''

Sampras announced two weeks ago that he wanted to play in the Davis Cup again, but would do so as a doubles player because Todd Martin and Jim Courier, who had put in inspirational performances for the US against Great Britain in the first round, deserved to retain their singles places.

But with Sampras returning to form here after a disappointing French Open, strong pressure has been placed on American Davis Cup captain Tom Gullickson to have Sampras play singles in Boston.

After he had lost his quarterfinal to Pat Rafter, Martin virtually cleared the way for that to happen. ``Well, I would volunteer,'' said Martin, when asked if someone should stand aside to allow Sampras to play. ``I think Pete should be playing singles and I don't know if Pete thinks that, I don't know if Gully thinks that, and I don't know if Jim thinks that, but, you know, if you want our best team out on that court ...''

The American players will meet Gullickson after Wimbledon to discuss selection before they travel to Boston for the tie.