UNTIL THE third game of the second set, the signature sound of the quarter-final on Centre Court yesterday had been the eerie tungsten crack of the ball leaving Mark Philippoussis’s racket and flying across the net for another ace Then came a sound that only he could hear A click inside his left knee A minute later, he heard it again And when he heard it a third time, he knew the game was up. But when I have pressure on me, I tend to come up with the goods on my serve If I don’t get them in, then I’m going to be in trouble.”. With serve, the set moved to a tie-break, which Rafter took 7-3.Rafter, who has pulled out of his doubles with the Swede Jonas Bjorkmann to concentrate on his pursuit of the singles title, said of hi semi-final: “When I’ve played Andre in the past, I’ve had some success against him, but he’s had a lot more. In the ninth game, however, Rafter broke back to give himself a chance.
His usually steadfast serve seemed then to desert him, at 0-40 in the 10th, but he clawed back to level at 5-5. Martin smashed the point home for 3-0, but Rafter took the next three points and went on to win the tie- break 7-5.With the score at 5-3 to Martin in the fourth set and with the American serving, it looked as if a fifth set beckoned. The ball dropped almost out of Rafter’s reach but he got to it. The tie-break at the end of the second went Martin’s way with a single mini-break.In the third set, the score went with serve to 6-6, and Martin, who seemed to be having the better luck with the net-cord – which at times seemed to be the only thing separating the pair in more senses than one – broke Rafter on the first point of the tie-break Martin served at 2-0 and hit the net again during the rally. When it resumed yesterday, Rafter held his serve, broke his opponent and then held again to take the first set.
Martin immediately struck back to take the first three games in the second, but Rafter rallied and took the next three, including one break where he produced some tremendous cross-court passes on the run and took the game with a delicate lob that he had stretched to hit. That he has done so this year is testament to his doggedness, as the contest against Martin was far from easy.The match had started on Thursday, but with the score at three games apiece and looking as if it would go all the way, rain stopped play. This is a big milestone for me.”
Although this is Rafter’s seventh consecutive Wimbledon appearance, he has never progressed beyond the fourth round before. “I’m relieved and very happy,” Rafter said after yesterday’s match “But I know I’ve got another job to do tomorrow. The No 2 seed eventually reached the last four with a determined display, winning 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 7-6. The Antipodean’s reward for his win is a semi-final meeting, scheduled for today, against Martin’s resurgent compatriot, Andre Agassi.
PAT RAFTER sustained Australian hopes in the men’s singles yesterday by beating the American Todd Martin after a close four-set contest. At the end of the day, 14 years later, people know you pretty well.”. You leave your heart and soul there, disappointments and achievements. “I don’t think I enjoyed it as much then [when he first won here]. You build a lot of memories together out there, year after year in these tournaments. “As you get older you have more appreciation about what you are experiencing out there and the anticipation is considerably more,” he said. He is also two matches away from fulfilling a further ambition of winning the same Grand Slam event twice.Agassi has relatively little time left in tennis but more time now than ever before to rejoice in his profession.
He is the fifth man in history to win all four Grand Slam tournaments and the first on the diverse surfaces of hard court, clay and grass. His wife, Brooke Shields, became gradually superfluous as her husband gave his sport a last hurrah.Now Agassi has won a French Open title and aims to become the 10th man to hold that championship and the Wimbledon title concurrently Bjorn Borg, in 1980, was the last. Then he emerged, his crown glistening, to spread violent drives to all points of a court which produced inconsistent bounce.It was hard to view this figure as the man who, just two years ago, was down to No 141 in the world. He has dragged himself back, but there have been casualties along the way.