MELBOURNE, Nov 28: Australian Mark Philippoussis said he had been just “inches away” from forcing his Davis Cup final singles match against Spain’s Carlos Moya into a deciding fifth set on Friday.

Philippoussis lost the match in a tiebreak in the fourth set 6-4 6-4 4-6 7-6, levelling the tie at 1-1 after former world number one Lleyton Hewitt ground out a tough five-set victory over Juan Carlos Ferrero earlier in the day.

“I felt that I was just inches away from getting on a roll and taking it into the fifth,” a downcast Philippoussis said at a news conference. “I made him look aggressive, but I felt like in the third and fourth (sets) that I was in control.

Philippoussis opened up a 2-0 lead in the tiebreak before an attempted forehand pass slammed into the top of the net cord, trickled tantalisingly close but failed to drop on to Moya’s side of the net.

Moya then produced an astonishing running passing forehand at full stretch as Philippoussis attacked at the net, which gave the Spaniard a 5-3 lead that he never relinquished.

Philippoussis, a Wimbledon finalist this year, said he had found it hard to get into the game.

“I had a slow start,” he said. “I was a long way away from my form at Wimbledon. At a tournament you work your way into the second week and every match gets a little better.

“I have no doubt that when it comes Sunday, I am going to be a different player out there.

“I have a match under my belt, obviously it’s not the match I wanted but grass is one of those surfaces where you need to play some matches.

“I didn’t play a good one today, but there is no doubt I’ll be a different player on Sunday.”

Philippoussis will play Ferrero in Sunday’s reverse singles and Australia captain John Fitzgerald thought the 27-year-old would pull out a better performance then.

“He wasn’t at his best in the first two sets and he knows that,” said Fitzgerald. “But it sometimes takes a few matches on the grass to get going.

“He may well have been favourite in the fifth and I think he will play better on Sunday. I think he’ll pick up from where he left off in the last two sets.”—Reuters