His Serve Didn’t Fluster Muster

Mark Philippoussis is only 20, so he has yet to fully grasp what it is that drives the business of professional tennis--diversification.

The young Australian, he of the 142-mph serve, won his second tour event last week and came into the Newsweek Champions Cup talking about how his game had advanced beyond relying on his concussive serve.

There was little evidence of that claim at the Hyatt Grand Champions resort Friday during his quarterfinal match against Thomas Muster. When Philippoussis’ serve failed to intimidate the resolute Muster, Philippoussis folded up his game and left the court in 79 minutes.

Who better than Muster to preach the wisdom of diversity, the former clay court specialist who has a 15-2 hardcourt record this season. The second-seeded Muster outserved and outhit Philippoussis, winning, 6-3, 7-6 (10-8).

Muster will play Michael Chang in today’s semifinal. The third-seeded Chang beat Cedric Pioline of France, 6-3, 6-2, Friday night.

In the other quarterfinals, Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden defeated 14th-seeded Alberto Berasategui of Spain, the only remaining seeded player in the top half of the draw, 6-2, 6-3. Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic defeated Byron Black of Zimbabwe, 6-4, 6-2. Bjorkman will play Ulihrach in the other semifinal.

While Philippoussis had been touting his all-around game without conviction, Muster has good reason to consider himself an all-court kind of guy. The former French Open champion has the ability to customize his backcourt game to suit the power demands of hardcourt.

Muster’s serve has nothing of the velocity of Philippoussis’ ferocious delivery, but the Austrian’s was far more effective. Muster not only got in a higher percentage of his serves, he won 85% of his first-serve points. Philippoussis had 18 aces, but seldom has that statistic meant so little.

Philippoussis’ serve deserted him at crucial junctures: He double-faulted to lose the first set. Meanwhile, Muster was his usual growling, predatory presence. His efficiency was remarkable--Muster had only one unforced error in the second set and only seven over both sets. Philippoussis sprayed shots around and committed 31 unforced errors.

“I knew if I’m not going to miss too many groundstrokes, play a solid baseline game, I would be all right,” Muster said. “I didn’t know how his serving would come out. Obviously, it was a very enjoyable match.”

In the second set, Philippoussis double faulted to give Muster match point, but a close call on a Philippoussis overhead saved that.

Both players had chances in the tiebreak. Philippoussis saved another match point with an ace and a third with a service winner. But he wasted his own chance at set point with a rushed forehand into the net. Muster made good on his fourth match point.

“I’m feeling pretty confident with an all-around game,” Philippoussis said. “Maybe today I was a bit . . . went for too much sometimes. I felt like I rallied out there pretty good. The ones that I missed, I didn’t go for anything ridiculous. I just missed them long.”

Philippoussis had no fallback position when his serve failed to carry the day. His groundstrokes were revealed to be less than proficient and his court movement was not gazelle-like. But he’s young, he’ll learn. With time, diversity will come.

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Court in Session

Today’s featured matches in the State Farm Evert Cup (women) and Newsweek Champions Cup (men) tennis tournaments at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort. Seedings in parenthesis:

DAY SESSION STARTING AT 11

Stadium Court--Women’s final: Irina Spirlea (6), Romania, vs. Lindsay Davenport (4), Newport Beach; Men’s semifinals: Bohdan Ulihrach, Czech Republic, vs. Jonas Bjorkman, Sweden; Michael Chang (3), Henderson, Nev., vs. Thomas Muster (2), Austria.