Philippoussis marches into Wimbledon final

Unseeded Australian Mark Philippoussis beat Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 7-6 6-3 6-3 today to reach the first Wimbledon final…

Unseeded Australian Mark Philippoussis beat Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 7-6 6-3 6-3 today to reach the first Wimbledon final of his career.

Philippoussis will play either American fifth seed Andy Roddick or Swiss player Roger Federer, the fourth seed, in Sunday's final.

The 26-year-old, who has been dogged by knee problems in recent years, coupled thumping serves with a string of destructive baseline winners to reach his second grand slam final.

Like his opponent, Grosjean was playing in his first Wimbledon semi-final but the 13th seed, conqueror of Tim Henman in the quarter-finals, could not live with Philippoussis's power.

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The Australian, the 1998 U.S. Open finalist, took his aces tally to 164 with 11 more on Friday. He is chasing Croatian Goran Ivanisevic's Wimbledon record of 212 aces in the tournament set in 2001.