Unseeded Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo staged a stunning Australian Open semi-final fightback in Melbourne yesterday to upset Lindsay Davenport 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in a performance so powerful the world number one thought she was playing a man.
Big-hitting Mauresmo will meet defending champion Martina Hingis in her first Grand Slam final. The Swiss teenager disposed of Monica Seles 6-2, 6-4 to end an unbeaten run of 33 matches for the four-times Australian Open champion.
"I'm very happy, I didn't expect it at the beginning of the tournament," a delighted Mauresmo said. "I think I'll just play the final first and think about it later," the 19-year-old added when asked if her giant-killing performance had sunk in yet.
Unsung Nicolas Lapentti was unable to emulate Mauresmo in the star-starved men's singles, going down to Swede Thomas Enqvist in straight sets on a hot Melbourne Park Centre Court.
Enqvist ended the Ecuadorean's dream run with a clinical 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 win to reach his first Grand Slam final. The in-form Swede will play the winner of today's semi-final between 10th seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia - the only seed left in the men's singles - and 20-year-old German Tommy Haas.
But no one could match Mauresmo's dramatic path to the final. The strongly-built teenager fought off two match points in an opening round battle with American Corina Morariu last week.
World number 29 Mauresmo then downed eighth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland in the second round and toppled Belgian 11th seed Dominique Van Roost in the quarter-finals.
Mauresmo had never before made it past the third round of a Grand Slam but the 1996 world junior champion had beaten Davenport when they first met at the German Open last May.
Top-seeded Davenport began confidently before Mauresmo battered the American with service winners and swarmed over her with brutal groundstrokes.
"A couple of times I thought I was playing a guy, she was hitting the ball so hard," Davenport said afterwards.
The pair slugged it out through the second set until Mauresmo gained a crucial advantage when she broke Davenport's serve to love in the 12th game. Five service breaks were traded in an enthralling third set before the French teenager broke again for the match, sinking to her knees in joy after drilling a backhand down the line past an outstretched Davenport.
US Open champion Davenport had not lost a set before the semi-finals and looked on course for her first Australian Open final when she held three break points in the third game of the final set. But the broad-shouldered Mauresmo saved those points and rallied as her powerful serve began to find its mark again.
Instead, it was Davenport who wilted slowly. "I couldn't touch her serve at the end," Davenport said. "Every time I got my foot through the door and I thought I was going to get to the end, the door was shut on my foot."
Mauresmo said after beating Van Roost that she did strength training for at least an hour a day and rated herself as powerful as any player on the women's tour.
World number two Hingis was also too strong for Seles but relied more on deft placement and timing than raw power. The Swiss teenager slammed a forehand winner past Seles on her second match point after 59 relatively trouble-free minutes.
The point also ended Seles's remarkable winning streak in Melbourne at 33 matches. Seles won in her only four previous Open appearances from 1991 to 1993 and again in 1996.
"You hate that to happen after so many years but I tried my best," Seles said. "It's sad it's really ended but I'll start a new one."
Hingis ruthlessly shut Seles out of the match, breaking the Yugoslav-born American early in the first set and then using her superior court coverage to gain another important break in the seventh game of the second set.
She said she was glad not to play Davenport in the final and felt Mauresmo might be overawed by the occasion. "Mentally it's easier to be the favourite," Hingis, at 18 a year younger than her opponent, said. "This is her first time in the final, it will be hard for her."
Women: Singles semi-finals (prefix number denote seed): A Mauresmo (Fra) bt (1) L Davenport (USA) 4-6, 7-5, 7-5; (2) M Hingis (Swi) bt (6) M Seles (USA) 6-2 6-4. Doubles semi- final: (1) L Davenport (USA) and N Zvereva (Blr) bt S Williams and V Williams (USA) 1-6 6-4 6-4. MEN: Singles semi-final: T Enqvist (Swe) bt N Lapentti (Ecu) 6-3 7-5 6-1. Doubles semi- finals: (1) M Bhupati and L Paes (Ind) bt E Ferreira (SA) and R Leach (USA) 7-6 (7/1) 6-3 76 (7/5), (5) J Bjorkman (Swe) and P Rafter (Aus) bt (2) T Woodbridge and M Woodforde (Aus) 36 4-6 6-2 6-2 8-6.
Petr Korda will find out today whether he has successfully blocked the International Tennis Federation from attempting to have him suspended following a positive dope test at Wimbledon last year. Mr Justice Lightman, presiding at London's High Court yesterday, indicated he would reserve his judgment overnight and give his decision this afternoon.
The Czech player believes his lawyers can prove the ITF does not have the right to challenge a decision by its own appeals board. But the ITF are arguing the board mis-applied anti-doping regulations in docking Korda only the points and prize money earned at Wimbledon when they punished him in December after testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone.
They want to appeal to the independent Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
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