Philippoussis to play "old fogey"

MEMPHIS, February 22: Whenever Mark Philippoussis runs into trouble, he turns to his big serve. It didn't fail him as he upset top-seeded Ma...

MEMPHIS, February 22: Whenever Mark Philippoussis runs into trouble, he turns to his big serve. It didn’t fail him as he upset top-seeded Marcelo Rios 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) at the $ 700,000 St Jude tournament yesterday.

Philippoussis, seeded fourth, will meet No 2 seed Michael Chang in the final of the tournament sponsored by Kroger. Chang needed two tie-breakers to defeat Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten 7-6 (9-3), 7-6 (7-4) earlier yesterday.

Rios came into the semifinal with a 14-2 record. He averaged 55 minutes per match and hadn’t dropped a set this week. But he had trouble seeing the ball as Philippoussis reached 133 mph on one serve.

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"I think I didn’t play that bad," Rios said. "I think his serve was the difference. He should be playing basketball, not tennis. It’s not fair a guy that’s 6-foot-4 and serves like that."

They were tied 4-4 when Rios got a chance to break him, and Philippoussis faulted on his first serve. His second serve was a 111 mph ace for deuce, and he served a 120 mph ace to go up5-4.

Rios then failed to hold serve as his forehand was called out, and he responded by dropping his racket and kicking it around the court a few times.

Chang, who fought off eight break points and one set point against the third-seeded Kuerten, will defend his championship on his 26th birthday."To play a final on my birthday will be kind of nice," he said. "Hopefully, they’ll be rooting for the old fogey."

Novotna wins

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HANOVER: Top-seeded Jana Novotna won a battle of generations today against 16-year-old Anna Kournikova to reach the finals of the $ 450,000 Faber Grand Prix.

Novotna ousted the Russian 6-3, 6-3 in a match closer than the score.