22 May 2004	Saturday	02 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

DUESSELDORF, May 21: Revitalised Mark Philippoussis staged his third recovery of a turnaround week Friday, saving two match points to defeat Mariano Zabaleta and keep Australia's hopes for a final alive at the 2.1-million-euros World Team Championships.

The Scud, who came to the clay of the Rochues club carrying an eight-match loss streak stretching back to January, continued his tennis rebirth as he stormed to a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 win.

His victory threw the last Blue group tie into a deciding doubles rubber after Gaston Gaudio gave the 2002 South American holders an early lead by beating Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5).

In two previous matches, Philippoussis also lost the first set before engineering a turnaround, a sharp contrast to his dreadful results of the past four months.

Australia is bidding for a third final in the past six editions of the elite French Open tune-up event. Winner of the tie will face holder Chile, already qualified for the Saturday trophy match.

Philippoussis improved to a 3-0 record this week and made it 3-0 over Zabaleta with his storming performance. The world number 18 saved a pair match points in the tenth game of the final through Zabaleta errors, then broke the shaky South American for 6-5 before serving out victory a game later after two hour, 15 minutes.

Results:

Blue Group:

Australia level with Argentina 1-1 (Australian names first):

Mark Philippoussis beat Mariano Zabaleta 4-6 6-3 7-5; Lleyton Hewitt lost to Gaston Gaudio 3-6 7-5 6-7 (5-7) United States level with Netherlands 1-1 (U.S. names first): Robby Ginepri beat John van Lottum 7-5 6-7 (6-8) 6-1; Vincent Spadea lost to Martin Verkerk 6-7 (5-7) 2-6.

WTA OPEN RESULTS:

PARIS: Semifinal results in the $170,000 Strasbourg women's WTA Open on Friday: Lindsay Davenport (U.S.) beat 3-Silvia Farina Elia (Italy) 6-2 6-0; Claudine Schaul (Luxembourg) beat 4-Emilie Loit (France) 6-4 6-1

GRAND PRIX RESULTS:

CASABLANCA: Semifinal results from the $351,000 Grand Prix Hassan II ATP tournament on Friday: 1-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) beat Julien Benneteau (France) 6-2 6-2; Santiago Ventura (Spain) beat Christophe Rochus (Belgium) 6-1 1-6 6-2

Vienna WTA results

VIENNA: Semifinal results from the 170,000-dollar WTA event in Vienna on Friday: Alicia Molik (AUS) bt Jelena Costanic (CRO) 6-4, 6-3; Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (ISR) bt Amy Frazier (USA x5) 7-5, 6-2. -Agencies