Australian Mark Philippoussis will take a healthy knee and a new coach into today's final of the $800,000 Kroger St. Jude tennis event in Memphis, Tennessee, against Italy's Davide Sanguinetti.
Philippoussis, the Number 2 seed, beat third seed Tommy Haas 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5) yesterday to reach the final day and the ninth-seeded Sanguinetti defeated unseeded Canadian Sebastien Lareau, 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 to make it to the decider.
Playing in his first tournament since undergoing knee surgery in late December, Philippoussis, nicknamed "Scud", has raced to the final without losing a set and has his ninth career ATP title within his sights.
He credits his post-operation conditioning and his work with new coach Peter McNamara. "I am very pleased because the surgeon really did not think I would be back this early," Philippoussis said.
Sanguinetti, in his third ATP singles final and first since Tashkent in September, has never captured an ATP crown and never before faced Philippoussis.
The Italian relied on his effortless court movement and effective serve to advance to the final, finishing with 14 aces and no double faults and winning 82 percent of his first-serve points in his semi-final against Lareau.
Reuters