TENNIS: Whatever happens between now and Sunday, and this tournament has provided a whole series of shocks, the Australian Open will have a new champion. In all probability it will be Russia's Marat Safin, who reached the last eight yesterday by defeating Pete Sampras, the winner here in 1994 and 1997.
Safin's win was nothing like as brutal as in the 2000 US Open final, when Sampras won only 10 games in a straight-sets loss from which he has never entirely recovered.
For two sets yesterday the Russian, who will be 22 on the day of the final, had Sampras by the throat, but the American staged a spirited recovery before Safin slammed the door in a second tie-break. He won 6-2, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 in just over three-and-a-half hours of enthralling and frequently brilliant tennis.
Asked who he thought might win the title now, Sampras replied: "I really don't care." And then, as a pertinent after-thought, added: "Whoever doesn't choke."
For sure, the comment was not aimed at his friend Tim Henman, but it was a further reminder of what a huge opportunity the Briton missed. Not that anybody would have fancied his chances against Safin in the final. The Russian is a tennis heavyweight, Henman a tricksy lightweight by comparison.
Sampras, without a title since his Wimbledon win two years ago, the last of his 13 grand slam successes, arrived in Australia brimming with vigour, and duly lifted his confidence by defeating Andre Agassi in the final of the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne, a pre-Open exhibition event. But he then experienced a tough opening week, including a five-set, third-round match against France's Nicolas Escude which went on into the small hours of Sunday morning.
Since losing that final to Safin the two have met three times, with Sampras winning twice, including last year's US Open semi-final. But 2001 was a difficult year for Safin, with a back injury robbing him of form and confidence. Having finished the previous year as the world number two, he drifted out of the top 10 and used the winter months to prepare more assiduously than ever.
Sampras has acquired a new coach, Tom Gullikson, the twin brother of his late coach, Tim, together with a new-found zest for tennis life, or so he would have everybody believe. The reality is that Sampras, who turned 30 last year, is not what he was.
The serve has lost much of its bite, while his reflexes at the net are slower. Not much, but enough to find himself beaten for sheer pace during the first two sets by Safin, when he could scarcely hit a volley of note.
Sampras's mid-match recovery will give his many admirers hope that he may yet win an eighth Wimbledon title this year, having lost in the fourth round to Switzerland's Roger Federer last time, but his days continue to look numbered.
"There has never been any doubt in my mind about carrying on," said Sampras defensively, but this may have been his last Australian Open.
In his own fourth-round match, Federer, who had a match point, lost in five sets to Germany's Tommy Haas who, at number seven, is the top seed left standing. He next plays Chile's Marcelo Rios, a beaten finalist here in 1998, for a place in the semi-finals, while Safin is up against South Africa's Wayne Ferreira, who defeated Spain's Albert Costa in his second successive five-set victory.
