The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Philippoussis ends a three-year title drought

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006

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Sport - Tennis

Philippoussis ends a three-year title drought

Newport: Mark Philippoussis beat eighth-seeded Justin Gimelstob 6-3, 7-5 at the Hall of Fame Championships on Sunday to claim his first ATP title in three years.

Philippoussis, ranked No. 214 in the world and granted a wildcard for the event, didn't lose serve in the entire tournament, showing some of the form that had seen him ranked No. 9 two years ago.

It was his first crown since winning in Shanghai in 2003.

``It feels great. It feels like 20 years,'' the 29-year-old Australian said after clinching his 11th career title. He wasn't broken in 54 service games in the tournament and beat four seeded players en route to the crown.

Philippoussis dropped out of the top 100 the last two years owing to injuries.

``I've always said the No. 1 thing is your health,'' he said. ``If you feel great you start off the day great. I'm enjoying my tennis.''

Aces galore

Philippoussis, a 2003 Wimbledon finalist, won 87 per cent of his first serve points for the second straight day. He had 15 aces compared to the 16 he had in the semifinals.

``I've been working extremely hard and this is how it pays off,'' Philippoussis said. ``I felt like I had good rhythm on my serve. I just felt good the whole week.''

Philippoussis broke Gimelstob in the second game of the match to go up 2-0. He closed out the first set with three straight aces.

In the second, Gimelstob rallied to go up 4-3, but Philippoussis broke in the 11th game for a 6-5 edge. He then had aces on the first two points of the final game before Gimelstob hit a forehand volley wide and a backhand into the net.

``It's good for tennis to have him back. On grass courts he's one of the best players in the world,'' said Gimelstob, who appeared in his first ATP final.

Philippoussis is eager to use his Hall of Fame Championships victory in Newport as a springboard to propel him back into the higher echelons of the game.

Once ranked as high as world number eight, a string of injuries have blighted Philippoussis throughout his career and the last three years have seen the big-serving Victorian sink to a new low.

He entered the tournament as the world number 214, his worst ranking since February 1995, despite showing handy form with wins over Paul-Henri Mathieu and Sebastien Grosjean at Wimbledon and Queen's.

The Australian then proceeded to march through the draw on his favourite grass surface in Newport without losing his serve and blasting 64 aces in the process as he became the lowest ranked winner on the tour in 2006.

Philippoussis has rocketed 89 places to 125 in the new rankings published on Monday.

Shikha fails to qualify

U.S.-based Indian Shikha Uberoi failed to make it to the main draw of the Cincinnati Open.

Shikha lost 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to American Abigail Spears in the second round of the qualifying singles match.

Earlier, Neha Uberoi, lost 2-6, 2-6 to Carly Gullickson in the first round of the singles qualifiers in the WTA tier III event.

Sania Mirza is the lone Indian in the main draw and she meets fifth seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in the first round.

Other results (all first round):

At Stuttgart (ATP Mercedes Cup): Diego Junquiera bt Christophe Rochus 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(5); Nicolas Lapentti bt Sebastian Rieschick 4-6, 6-3, 6-1; Diego Hartfield bt Robin Vik 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-4; Diego Jungueira bt Christophe Rochus 6-3, 2-7, 7-6(5).

At Amersfoot: Paul-Henri Mathieu bt Alessio Di Mauro 6-0, 6-3; Juan Antonio Marin bt Davide Sanguinetti 6-2, 7-5.

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