|
Home > Sports > News > Reuters > Report
Philippoussis, Federer in final
July 04, 2003 20:57 IST
Switzerland's Roger Federer and Mark Philippoussis of Australia will meet in the Wimbledon men's final on Sunday after scoring spectacular victories in their semi-finals on Friday. Federer became the first Swiss man to reach the Wimbledon final by destroying the bookmakers' favourite, American fifth seed Andy Roddick, 7-6, 6-3, 6-3. Earlier, Philippoussis, confined to a wheelchair due to serious knee trouble two years ago, blasted French 13th seed Sebastien Grosjean off Centre Court by the same score.  Federer, 21, showed why he is hailed as the brightest young talent in the game with a some outstanding all-court tennis that left 20-year-old Roddick smiling in disbelief and earned the Swiss a standing ovation. Roddick earned a set point in the first-set tie-break but squandered it and Federer made him pay the maximum price. Playing tennis better even than the memorable display he produced two years ago to end Pete Sampras's 31-game unbeaten streak at Wimbledon, the elegant Swiss completely neutralised Roddick's power game with craft and touch of the highest order. "It's incredible," said Federer. "Right now it's tough to understand what has been happening. I just played an incredible match today. "This is my favourite tournament. It's a dream." Philippoussis was in equally breathtaking form as he destroyed Grosjean in the first match on Centre Court. The 1998 U.S. Open finalist crashed down 11 aces to take his tournament's tally to 164 and unleashed a series of destructive forehand groundstrokes to sweep aside the 13th seed. Victory was a sweet moment for Philippoussis, whose career was in the balance after he underwent three operations on his left knee in the space of 14 months between January 2000 and March 2001. "God it's weird. It feels like I was in a wheelchair yesterday but then it feels like I've been away for six years," said the 26-year-old. His victory means an Australian will appear in the Wimbledon men's final for the fourth year in a row after Pat Rafter in 2000 and 2001 and Lleyton Hewitt last year. Friday was the first time since 1982 that both men's semi-finals at Wimbledon had ended in three-set victories. An ecstatic Philippoussis flattened the hopes of Grosjean with a forehand volley on his second match point and held his arms aloft in victory before turning to acknowledge his father Nick in the players' box. "I don't think Seb played his best tennis, I thought I took advantage of that," said Philippoussis. "I'm not really feeling much. Maybe it hasn't sunk in yet but I feeling pretty good. Having served 153 aces on his way to the semis, Philippoussis had been expected to set alight an overcast Centre Court with his fierce deliveries from the beginning. But knowing that it had taken him seven attempts to get to the last four of his favourite tournament, he took a cautious approach at the start. The 1998 U.S. Open runner-up snatched only one point on his opponent's serve before the 12th game, but two glorious winners and a Grosjean error handed Philippoussis his first two break chances in the match. Grojean, bidding to become the first Frenchman to reach the final since Cedric Pioline in 1997, saved both to take the set into a tiebreak. After an early exchange of mini-breaks, Philippoussis moved in for the kill. DIPPING RETURN He forced Grosjean to hit a backhand wide and bagged it 7-3 after the Frenchman failed to control a dipping service return.  With the first set safely tucked away, Philippoussis hit cruise control and broke Grosjean in the first game of the second before claiming the set when the Frenchman sailed a forehand wide. Grosjean, 25, finally earned his first break point in the seventh game of the third but predictably Philippoussis unleashed an ace to save it. With his morale and resolute crumbling fast, Grosjean gifted the Australian the break with a double fault for a 5-3 lead and effectively booked his flight home. Philippoussis took his aces tally to 164 with 11 more on Friday and is chasing Croatian Goran Ivanisevic's Wimbledon record of 212 aces in the tournament set in 2001. "Mark served big today and it was tough for me to return," said Grosjean. "I only had two break points ... so it was tough for me to stay in the match."
|
|
| Article Tools | | |
| Related Stories | | |
| People Who Read This Also Read | | |
|