LONDON, 5 July 2003 — Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Mark Philippoussis of Australia will meet in tomorrow’s Wimbledon men’s final after producing spectacular victories in the last four yesterday.
Federer became the first Swiss man to reach a grand slam final by destroying the favorite, American fifth seed Andy Roddick, 7-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a bewitching performance of pure class on Center Court.
Earlier unseeded Philippoussis, whose career was in doubt two years ago as he recovered from a series of knee operations, blasted French 13th seed Sebastien Grosjean off the same court by the same score.
“It’s incredible,” said Federer, whose best previous effort at a grand slam even was reaching the Wimbledon and French Open quarterfinals in 2001. “Right now it’s tough to understand what has been happening. I just played an incredible match today. This is my favorite tournament. It’s a dream.”
The 21-year-old fourth seed showed why he is hailed as the brightest young talent in the game with a some outstanding all-court tennis that left Roddick smiling in disbelief and earned the Swiss a standing ovation.
The 20-year-old American earned a set point in the first-set tiebreak but squandered it and Federer made him pay the maximum price. Playing better tennis even than the memorable display he produced two years ago to end Pete Sampras’s 31-game unbeaten streak at Wimbledon, the elegant Swiss completely neutralized Roddick’s power game with craft and touch of the highest order.
The last Swiss player to win a grand slam event was the now-retired Martina Hingis, the 1999 Australian Open women’s singles champion. Hingis won five grand slams in all, including Wimbledon in 1997.
Philippoussis’s victory was all about power as he destroyed Grosjean in the first match on Center Court.
The 1998 US Open finalist crashed down 11 aces to take his tournament’s tally to 164 and unleashed a series of destructive forehand groundstrokes to sweep aside the 13th seed.
Victory was a sweet moment for Philippoussis, who was confined to a wheelchair after he underwent three operations on his left knee in the space of 14 months between January 2000 and March 2001.
“It feels like I was in a wheelchair yesterday but then it feels like I’ve been away for six years,” said the 26-year-old. “It’s very tough. I’ve been through a lot.”
His victory means an Australian will appear in the Wimbledon men’s final for the fourth year in a row after Pat Rafter in 2000 and 2001 and Lleyton Hewitt last year.
Grosjean was reduced to a cowering shadow of the player who outclassed Britain’s Tim Henman in the quarterfinals yesterday.
With some under-statement, the Frenchman said: “Mark served big today, it was tough for me to return. I played pretty good against Tim but Mark’s serve was a little bit better than Tim’s.”
Injured Venus
‘Feeling Better’
Venus Williams, who suffered a recurrence of an abdominal injury during her Wimbledon semifinal win over Kim Clijsters, said she was feeling better after treatment yesterday. Despite the injury, Venus came from a set down to beat Clijsters in Thursday’s semifinal and afterward vowed to play in the final against her sister Serena today.
“I’ve had treatment with my trainer at home and I’m feeling better,” Venus said on Friday. “I didn’t practice today as I’m trying to get as much rest as possible for tomorrow’s final.”
“It would be a very special feeling to hold that trophy again because Wimbledon is very dear to me,” said the world number four. “It’s a special place.”
“It’s where I won my first grand slam and I admire the history and the tradition of the championships.” The siblings have so far contested five grand slam finals and although Venus won their first showdown at the US Open in 2001, she has been upstaged by Serena in the last four.
Clijsters and Sugiyama
Thwart Navratilova’s Record Bid
Clijsters of Belgium and Japan’s Ai Sugiyama denied 46-year-old Martina Navratilova a chance of a 20th Wimbledon title yesterday, beating the veteran and Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the women’s doubles quarterfinals.
Navratilova, with nine singles crowns, seven women’s doubles and three mixed doubles successes to her name, was playing an astonishing 300th match at the All England Club since her 1976 debut.
She came here hoping to go level with Billie Jean King, whose 20 crowns are a Wimbledon record, comprising six singles wins, 10 doubles and four mixed triumphs between 1961 and 1979.
But Navratilova, a Czech-born naturalized American, was unable to match an aggressive showing by her rivals on this occasion as Clijsters and Sugiyama moved through to a meeting with American fourth seeds Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond.
The Belgian-Japanese pair won that one, after a second-set lapse, 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 and now meet top seeds Paola Suarez of Argentina and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain who defeated Russian 15th seeds Elena Dementieva and Lina Krasnoroutskaya, conquerors earlier in the tournament of the Williams sisters, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
