Stylish Norman to face champion

Just another anonymous Swede with some heavy baseline artillery. This was pretty much how Australians viewed Magnus Norman before he blew away their local hero Lleyton Hewitt on Monday, although the fact that Thomas Enqvist reached last year's final of the Australian Open might have alerted them.

Yet only Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi won as many titles as Norman last year, albeit that their five successes took in the French and US Open (Agassi) and Wimbledon (Sampras).

The 23-year-old Monte Carlo-based Swede's victories were, rather more prosaically, in Orlando, Stuttgart, Umag in Croatia, Long Island and Shanghai, but he underlined his climb into the world's top 20 at the beginning of this year with another tournament win in Auckland. Now he has reached his first grand slam semi-final and will play Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the number two seed, tomorrow.

For a reason that is not altogether clear, the likeable Norman has been compared, perhaps because of his hair, to Austin Powers. At least there were loud cries of "Yeah, baby" when he hit winning shots against Germany's Nicolas Kiefer in the second men's quarter-final of the day, and he hit enough of them to win 3-6 6-3 6-1 7-6.

He was clearly the crowd's favourite and cries of "Come on, Maggie" were also heard at critical points. It just goes to show.

With rain falling from midday onwards, the tournament became an indoor event with the Rod Laver Arena's huge retractable roof slowly, almost menacingly, closing and the artificial lights and air-conditioning transforming the atmosphere.

Kafelnikov, the defending champion, did not mind one jot, for he is a man for all seasons. Anyway, the Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui was just about at the end of his physical tether - he had reached the last eight the hard way, playing a staggering 200 games in four matches with three five-setters - and had little left to throw at the Russian, who won 6-0 6-3 7-6.

Kafelnikov, despite winning five matches in Melbourne, is not brimming with confidence and is not convinced anybody has really tested him yet. "I know Norman is playing with a lot of confidence and he's physically strong," he said.

"I never expected to get this far in the tournament," said Kafelnikov, who beat Thomas Enqvist in last year's final.

"I've got to the stage of the tournament where I have to win two more matches, but those matches aren't going to be easy so I have to prepare myself and get ready for Friday."

Kiefer remains an enigma. Last year, under the watchful eye of his Australian coach Bob Brett, he climbed swiftly up the world ladder from number 35 into the top 10, winning three tour titles on the way but failing to get beyond the last 32 of any grand slam event.

In this Australian Open there had been genuine signs that he was about to make a breakthrough at the top level, and this made his generally lacklustre display against Norman all the more disappointing. Kiefer began brightly enough and overall, actually hit more winners - 43 to the Swede's 31 - but he also made 52 unforced errors. Tellingly, he converted only one of his 10 break-points whereas Norman found his biggest serves on the crucial points.

Kiefer does not lack self-belief, though, and at the start was serving the better and from time to time produced shots that had Norman completely baffled.

But at the start of the second set the 22-year-old German squandered five break-points, and then immediately dropped his serve. Thereafter the contest never really caught fire. Whenever Kiefer made a mistake, which was all too often, he stared around him as if some outside influence had intervened.

Norman gradually took control and although Kiefer raised his game in the fourth set, he allowed the tie-break to slip from his grasp all too easily.

In the women's quarter-finals Martina Hingis simply crushed Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain 6-1 6-1, and fellow Spainard Conchita Martinez took close to three hours to defeat Elena Likhovtseva of Russia 6-3 4-6 9-7.

Hingis said conserving her energy was important. "I tried to keep the match as short as possible," she said, the victory her 13th in-a-row against Sanchez-Vicario and her 26th consecutive win at Melbourne Park.

"This has always been the lucky tournament for me. It was my first Grand Slam and one I could defend. I like the fact that I've won it three times but four would be even better."

The Swiss 19-year-old made only seven unforced errors in the 45-minute match.

Much has been made of the fast Melbourne courts and Hingis had been expected to struggle on the new surface. Yet she has not dropped a set in her five matches to date and powered her way past the veteran Spaniard with a series of blistering winners.

"I think everybody is hitting the ball harder because you have to face players like the Williams (sisters), Lindsay (Davenport) and Mary (Pierce)," she said. "You have to develop your game or you'll be 30 or 40 in the world. With the way I'm built I wouldn't have a chance."