Rafter crowns outstanding year

For many Americans the US Open Championships are nothing more than another domestic hardcourt event, and the all-Australian men's final, in which Pat Rafter beat Mark Philippoussis 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 to retain the title at Flushing Meadow, was given short shrift.

CBS Television, having reinvented "Super Saturday", with the women's final squeezed irreverently between the men's semi-finals, caught a cold when Pete Sampras hobbled in lame and lost against Rafter, dumping them with a Sunday final which was impossible to sell.

They did try, though. At one stage they placed on screen a "Beefcake shirt-change count", which was on a par with last week's electronic news display on Fifth Avenue, which recorded a "Clinton says he's sorry count".

However Lindsay Davenport's 6-3, 7-5 victory over Martina Hingis in the women's final was well received - she was, after all, the first American-born woman to win the title since Chris Evert in 1982.

The men's tournament really came alive for the home fans only on the night Andre Agassi, facing swift defeat in the fourth round, began to take the Michael out of Slovakia's Karol Kucera. Even then the rain washed out the perceived fun and Agassi was swept aside the next day.

John McEnroe, having claimed that Rafter was "a one-Slam wonder", hastily retracted on Sunday, claiming he had been misquoted and that it was "all the media's fault". This did not wash, with even a fellow CBS TV commentator pointing out that "he was the media".

Rafter deserved to win for, like Davenport, he entered the tournament as the hottest player on the circuit and maintained his form throughout, having survived a first-round scare against Morocco's gifted but temperamentally fragile Hicham Arazi, who squandered a two-set lead.

Philippoussis, less naturally talented than either Arazi or Rafter but with a huge game capable of crushing anyone, has suffered more than most from problems inside his head.

His new coach, the 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, appears to have finally focused the 21-year-old from Melbourne but the old problems reared up again after the final. Philippoussis fell out with Tony Roche and John Newcombe, Australia's respective Davis Cup coach and captain, this year and was upset when he saw them both sitting in Rafter's courtside box during the match.

Rafter's win moved him back to number two in the world rankings, where he finished last year. Now he appears a much more mature player and one capable of challenging for the top spot, provided he can translate this form on to different surfaces.

"Now I feel last year wasn't such a fluke. It's not as euphoric this time but much more satisfying," he said. Philippoussis added: "At the moment he's playing the best tennis in the world." The season now moves on to the European indoor circuit, culminating in the men's championships in Rome and the women's in New York, with both number one's, Sampras and Hingis, looking vulnerable. Tim Henman, who is off to defend his title in Tashkent, has moved up to number 11, with Greg Rusedski, not in action this week, falling to 15. An intriguing battle lies ahead.

Henman is officially back as British number one after being second to Rusedski for the past 55 weeks. The pair will lead Britain's attempt to reach the Davis Cup World Group for the first time since 1992. The captain David Lloyd has selected them for the qualifying-round tie against India at Nottingham from September 25-27.