Mark of a champion
Phillippoussis outlasts No. 1 Moya in final at Indian Wells
Posted: Monday March 15, 1999 09:18 AM
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Mark Philippoussis kisses the trophy after defeating No.1 ATP player Carlos Moya. AP |
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) -- It was a weekend of winners. Mark Philippoussis and Serena Williams came away with titles. Carlos Moya lost, yet came away with the biggest prize of all.
Philippoussis cranked up one of the fastest serves in the game to defeat Moya Sunday and win the Newsweek Champions Cup in a nearly three-hour battle, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
A day earlier, the younger of the two Williams sisters, 17-year-old Serena, captured her second consecutive tournament, beating former No. 1 Steffi Graf 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in the Evert Cup final.
Despite his loss, Moya became the 15th player and the first Spaniard to be ranked No. 1 in the world in men's tennis.
"At least for this week I'm going to be King of the World," Moya said after winning his semifinal match and moving ahead of Pete Sampras in the ATP Tour rankings. "I was the King of Clay in the French Open [in 1998] and now I'm the King of the World."
The fourth-seeded Moya charged to a first-set advantage, breaking Philippoussis in the last game of the first set. But Philippoussis was in control most of the way thereafter.
"The key of the match was the third set, where the match was very close and I had some break points," Moya said. "But I didn't take any of them."
After Moya won the fourth set, Philippoussis put the pressure on and jumped to an early 3-1 lead, held on and broke Moya again for a 5-2 lead, winning the set with his 23rd ace. Moya had six.
"It feels great," Philippoussis said after winning the biggest title of his career and $361,000 while jumping 16th to 11th in the
rankings. "It's extra special knowing that Carlos was No. 1 in the world. I played some great tennis today."
Philippoussis' run for the title started with a two tiebreaker wins over Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic, followed by an upset of third-seed Alex Corretja of Spain, a victory against Marat Safin of Russia in the quarterfinals and a semifinals win over 11th-seeded Todd Martin.
Moya rolled over his early opponents, including eighth-seeded Richard Krajicek in the second round, then Xavier Malisse of Belgium, followed by 12th-seed Karol Kucera of Slovakia in the quarterfinals before meeting, and beating, . Then he advanced to the finals, beating Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten in the semifinals.
Williams earned the biggest paycheck of her young career when she defeated Graf, a two-time champion of this event.
The women's event was played concurrently with the men's tournament. Williams earned $200,000 and her second straight title. She won her first career title last month in Paris.
In the Evert Cup, Williams upset No. 2 seed Lindsay Davenport in the second round, No. 6 Mary Pierce in the quarterfinals and No. 12 Sandrine Testud in the semis.
Top seed and defending champion Martina Hingis was eliminated by unseeded Chanda Rubin in the quarterfinals. Rubin was ousted in the semis by Graf, who then ousted No. 4 seed Jana Novotna.
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