Saturday, September 23, 2000
Tennis News Online

Philippoussis joins fallen seeds

Kuerten: through to quarter-finals

Australia lost another favourite when Mark Philippoussis was beaten by Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov 7-6 6-3 as the men's tournament was shorn of another seed.

Sweden's Magnus Norman was the other seed to go out in the third round, beaten by France’s Arnauld Di Pasquale 7-6 7-6.

There were no such problems for Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten, twice the French Open champion, who beat Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 7-6 6-3 to advance to the next round. Eighth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain also progressed, beating Canada's Daniel Nestor 7-6 6-3.

In the women’s tournament, 10th-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia and No 12 Barbara Schett of Germany went into the next round. Dementieva beat Karina Habsudova of Slovakia 6-2 6-1. Her opponent in the quarter-finals will be Schett, who rallied past Julie Halard-Decugis of France 2-6 6-2 6-1.

Amanda Coetzer also moved into the quarter-finals, defeating Belgium’s Sabine Appelmans 6-3 6-1 to set up a showdown with Australia’s rising star, Jelena Dokic.

Venus Williams puts her 29-match winning streak on the line in the quarterfinals on Sunday against Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, the last player to beat her. That was at the French Open, before Williams began a run that has included titles at Wimbledon and the US Open.

"I’m going to compete and do my best," Williams said. "Usually when I do that, I win."

To put her in the right frame of mind Williams was successful in the doubles, teaming up with her sister Serena to reach the quarter-finals, beating the Russian pair Elena Likhovtseva and Anastasia Myskina 4-6 6-2 6-3.

PETER WATTS
Sunday Times