Australian Open champion Petr Korda has lodged a legal challenge to the International Tennis Federation's planned appeal against the leniency of his penalty for testing positive to steroids.
Korda's lawyers have begun proceedings in the High Court in England in a bid to stop the ITF appealing its independent panel's decision not to impose a one-year ban on him in the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
"It's completely in the hands of my lawyers," Korda said at the Colonial Classic, a warm-up event for his Australian Open title defence starting next week. "We are asking the court if the ITF can appeal its own decision."
Meanwhile, former world number one Steffi Graf was back to her vintage best yesterday, while Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport sailed through to the semi-finals of the $750,000 Sydney International.
Graf outclassed the ultra-confident Venus Williams in a classic quarter-final clash on the White City grass that proved the German was on her way back to her best. Winner of 21 grand slam titles, she fought back from a set down and 2-4 in the final set to seal a heart-stopping 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory.
Still visibly battling illness that forced her out of a recent exhibition match in Hong Kong, she beat dubious line calls and the most powerful player in the women's game in what she called an extremely satisfying win.
The other women's matches paled in comparison, as Swiss world number two Martina Hingis thrashed Belgium's eighth seed Dominique Van Roost 6-2, 6-0, and Austrian Barbara Schett ousted defending champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 1-6, 6-1, 6-0 in a rain-affected match.
Thomas Enqvist stepped up his preparations for next week's Australian Open with an impressive straight sets victory over Andre Agassi in the Colonial Classic. The 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) win in 67 minutes was the Swede's seventh straight victory in Australia and he will now play either Mark Philippoussis or Michael Chang in Saturday's final.
