Ivanisevic has Open in sights

WORLD number three, Goran Ivanisevic has his sights firmly on next week's Australian Open after breezing into the semi-finals of a warm-up tournament yesterday.

Croatia's lvanisevic, the only one of the world's top three players not to have won a Grand Slam title, reached the semi-finals of the Sydney International with a convincing 6-4 6-2 win over Australian wildcard entrant Sandon Stolle.

lvanisevic, twice runner-up at Wimbledon, said he was anxious to end the constant questions surrounding his failure to win one of the four Grand Slam titles.

"Then every time I come to the press conference, nobody has to ask me, `When are you going to win a Grand Slam?'," he said.

"A hundred million questions and always the same answers. It would be nice you know, once, and not any more of those questions."

With world number one Pete Sampras and number two Michael Chang both playing in an exhibition tournament this week, Ivanisevic should win the Sydney title.

On Wednesday, though, the fiery left-hander struggled past Spain's Javier Sanchez in three sets.

"Today was much better," he said. "My serve was working well and everything otherwise was working good."

Ivanisevic will meet Britain's Tim Henman in the semi-finals. Henman continued his recent run of good form with a gritty 1-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 win over of Alex O'Brien of the United States.

lvanisevic and Spain's Albert Costa are the only two seeds left in the tournament. Third-seeded Costa progressed to the semi-finals with a 6-4 6-2 win over Byron Black of Zimbabwe.

Costa's will play unseeded compatriot Carlos Moya in the semi-finals after Moya eliminated Australia's Patrick Rafter 7-6 (8-6) 6-3.

American Jennifer Capriati continued her comeback with a straightforward 6-4 6-1 win over compatriot Amy Frazier.

Capriati, a sentimental favourite after taking the 1993 title at the age of 16, will meet fourth seed Lindsay Davenport of the United States in the semi-finals.

Davenport beat Japan's Naoko Sawamatsu 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-1.

Swiss prodigy Martina Hingis set up the enticing prospect of a final meeting with Capriati after beating Indonesia's Yayuk Basuki 7-6 (8-6) 6-1. Hingis (16), will meet Mary Joe Fernandez in the semi-finals after the experienced American upset third seed Iva Majoli of the United States 7-5 6-4.

American Michael Chang yesterday avenged his defeat by Germany's Boris Becker in last year's Australian Open final with a battling win in the Colonial Classic semi-finals in Melbourne.

Chang showed all his fighting qualities to edge past Becker 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5), saving three match points in the process in the warmup event for next week's Grand Slam tournament.

"I am pretty competitive person and the only time I am not is when I'm playing against my mother," said Chang, who will defend his title against either compatriot Pete Sampras or Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov tomorrow.

Becker, who ended a barren five-year spell without a Grand Slam victory with his Open triumph in Melbourne last July, led Chang 4-0 in the decisive tie break before losing an encounter lasting two hours and 18 minutes.