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Homegrown battle Philippoussis downs Ilie in all-Australian clash
Posted: Friday January 21, 2000 11:47 AM
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Australia got a big dose of home talent Friday in Mark Philippoussis' straight sets knockout of Andrew Ilie, a showman who likes to rip off his shirt when he wins. Instead, it was No. 16 seeded Philippoussis who grabbed his own lapels and, in a parody of Ilie's ritual, made as if to tear his shirt after his 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-1 third-round victory. The all-Australian duel on center court, its retractable roof closed because of light rain, was one of the most charged matches yet at the Australian Open. The stadium filled with yells like "Go, Silly Ilie!" and "Let's go Mark, here we come!" Some spectators whooped when Philippoussis, nicknamed the "Scud" for his big serve, changed his shirt between sets. A glamorous friend, Russian player Anna Kournikova, sat with his entourage in the stands. Philippoussis and Ilie, both 23 years old, were in the same class as juniors at the Australian Institute of Sport, although the Grand Slam game was their first professional meeting. Philippoussis reached the 1998 U.S. Open final and has won seven tournaments, while Ilie has one title and a year-end world ranking of 54. In the first and second sets, Ilie whipped groundstroke winners into the corners with panache, raising his arms in triumph and blowing a kiss to the crowd after one crushing forehand.
"If anybody expected me to go out there and put the Superman cape on and start flying around the court, you know, they should be disappointed because I wasn't Superman," Ilie said later. Philippoussis' baseline game was lukewarm, but he blasted service winners mechanically. Nothing distracted him: not a ringing cellular phone, not a chirping bird in the rafters, not Ilie's slapstick stagger before receiving serve in the tiebreak. Unable to crack the serve, a frustrated Ilie came loose in the third set and Philippoussis broke him twice. On his first match point, Philippoussis hit a double fault. On the second, he charged the net and disposed of Ilie's low return with a forehand volley winner. "Each match is getting better and better," said Philippoussis, who faces Andre Agassi in the fourth round.
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