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Peaking in Paris Philippoussis shows fine form in defeating Henman
Posted: Thursday November 04, 1999 06:50 PM
PARIS (AP) -- Mark Philippoussis earned his third confidence-boosting victory in the Paris Open by ousting 10th-seeded Tim Henman 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday. Philippoussis, who beat eighth-seeded Richard Krajicek in the second round after a first-round victory over Nicolas Escude, served 14 aces to Henman's seven, while the double fault count was 6-0 in Philippoussis' favor. "All I am lacking from my game is matches under my belt and this week that is what I am getting," said Philippoussis, coming back from knee surgery. "I am concentrating extremely well and enjoying playing again. "Players like to peak for the big tournaments and that is what I am starting to do," he added. Philippoussis was unstoppable in the first set, which he clinched with a 128 mph serve. Henman even applauded a brilliant service return winner from the Australian in the fourth game. Henman fought back in the second set but in the deciding set the Australian broke to make it 2-0 and held service to win the match. The British player, who has now given up hope of reaching the end-of-season championships, said that Philippoussis served as well as ever. "I can read other big servers but with Mark it is a bit of a guessing game," he said. Philippoussis faces Andre Agassi in Friday's top quarterfinal match. Agassi, watched by girlfriend Steffi Graf, had to come back from 0-2 in the final set to beat Sjeng Schalken 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, but his victory was more comfortable than the score suggested. Agassi's countryman, Michael Chang, whose best performances this year were semifinal appearances at San Jose and Shanghai, outplayed John van Lottum of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-2. The former world No. 2, who needed to come through qualifying in an ATP tournament for the first time in 11 years, made the most of erratic play by the Dutch player to win in 59 minutes. Chang faces French No. 1 Cedric Pioline in the quarterfinals. The partisan French crowd was treated to a final-set tiebreaker as Pioline beat Australian teen Lleyton Hewitt 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 7-6 (8-6). Hewitt gets a chance at revenge in next month's Davis Cup final between France and Australia. Hewitt served for the match at 5-4 in the final set and showed great maturity to save four match points in the tiebreaker to draw even at 6-6. Pioline won two straight points to win the match. "I was serving for the first and third set so I should have won three sets to nil," Hewitt said. "But it's good experience for the Davis Cup. I am only 18 so have to learn the hard way." Jim Courier became the third American in the last eight with a 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 victory over Thomas Enqvist of Sweden in a match that took 21/2 hours. Courier's next opponent is unseeded Marat Safin, who overcame Marc Rosset 6-4, 6-4.
Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, seeded 11th, advanced with a 6-2,
7-5 victory over Albert Costa of Spain. He'll face 13th-seeded
Tommy Haas, who advanced when Pete Sampras withdrew because of a back injury.
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