Mark Philippoussis, returning to the site of his last tournament
triumph, defeated Mikael Pernfors of Sweden 6-3, 6-4 Friday to advance
into the semifinals of the $150,000 Hall of Fame Champions Cup at the
International Tennis Hall of Fame. Philippoussis will face fellow
Australian Pat Cash, a 7-5, 6-4 winner Friday over Mats Wilander of
Sweden in the quarterfinals. The Hall of Fame Champions Cup is the fifth
of eight events on the 2009 Outback Champions Series, the global tennis
circuit for champion tennis players age 30 and over.
Playing in his fourth career Outback Champions Series event,
Philippoussis co-incidentally last captured a tournament title on the
International Tennis Hall of Fame grounds back in 2006 when he won the
ATP Tour's Campbell's Hall of Fame Championships, his 11th career ATP
title.
"It feels nice to be back in Newport," said Philippoussis. "I had a
great experience and a memorable week here in 2006. Everything feels so
comfortable because it’s absolutely gorgeous here. You can mill around.
The town is very easy on the eyes. It’s a great little tournament. You
hit some balls, play matches, and it just feels very laid back and
obviously winning here was even nicer."
Since his ATP win in Newport, Philippoussis, 32, has struggled with
knee injuries that has kept him on and off the ATP Tour and the Outback
Champions Series circuit. He last played against ATP level competition
at the 2007 Hopman Cup mixed team event in Perth, Australia. Following
knee surgery in early 2007, Philippoussis returned to competitive
tournament tennis at the Outback Champions Series event in Dallas in
2007, losing the third-place match to John McEnroe. Earlier this year,
he competed in Outback Champions Series events in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, where he finished with a 1-2 round-robin record, and in Grand
Cayman, where he reached the semifinals losing to Jim Courier.
Nick-named "Scud" for his missile-like velocity of his first serve,
the 2003 Wimbledon finalist and former world No. 8 struggled at times
with his serve against Pernfors as a brisk breeze from the Atlantic
Ocean descended upon the Hall of Fame complex. The Scud's deliveries,
however, were enough to cause Pernfors to offer a "just get out of the
way" defense of how you handle the Australian's rocket first serve.
"It was a good serve day except for that one game (at 4-3 in the
second set) where I had like nine double faults and ten aces," said
Philippoussis. "It kept him guessing."
Cash, the defending champion who beat Jim Courier in last year's
final, rallied from a 1-4 first-set deficit against Wilander in a
re-match of the 1988 Australian Open final, won by Wilander in five
sets. Cash said he is looking forward to his match Saturday with
Philippoussis, a player he coached during a short stint just over 10
years ago.
In the other men's semifinal Saturday, 2007 Hall of Fame Champions
Cup winner Todd Martin will face Courier, the current No. 1 ranked
player on the Outback Champions Series.
The matches on Friday were played 109 years to the day on the same
court as the men's singles final of the 1900 U.S. Championships (the
modern day U.S. Open) when Malcolm Whitman defeated fellow American Bill
Larned 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Ticket information for the weekend's matches can be found at
