Countrymen Go Their Separate Ways

The men’s side lost two seeded players at the Australian Open on Wednesday, and both second-round losses were sentimental for different reasons.

Ousted were seventh-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain, a popular finalist in last year’s Open, and 15th-seeded Mark Philippoussis of Australia, who lost to an unseeded Moroccan.

Australian Richard Fromberg defeated a sluggish Moya, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, and Hicham Arazi knocked out a sluggish Philippoussis, 1-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 9-7.

Fromberg, 27, became an instant hero with his victory and Philippoussis, known as the Scud here because of his violent serve, a national goat.

It was only the second five-set match for the 21-year-old Australian and he didn’t handle the mild heat as well as Arazi. Heat for Philippoussis came in two forms, temperature and pressure. With so much of the national attention focused on Patrick Rafter, Philippoussis has been able to thrive out of the spotlight.

When the glare turned back to him Wednesday afternoon, he wilted. Arazi, ranked No. 47, cleverly waited while Philippoussis tired physically and ran out of ideas mentally. Philippoussis squandered his only match point.

Arazi outserved Philippoussis, firing in 21 aces to 19.

Another seeded player survived a scare--No. 2 Lindsay Davenport defeated Karina Habsudova of Slovakia, 2-6, 6-0, 9-7.

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First-round matches at Grand Slam tournaments are notorious for their unpredictability. The second-seeded Rafter experienced that Tuesday night, nearly succumbing to the volatile Jeff Tarango in front of a wild center court crowd.

Rafter won, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (7-4), 7-5, but he admitted to feeling the pressure of expectations. His 26 aces bailed him out as well as his ability to handle Tarango’s various attempts to psyche Rafter out.

Rafter was asked if Tarango was one of the most annoying players he has played, and the Australia laughed.

“He loves to play games,” Rafter said. “I know he’s playing them, and I love to get into his face. I mean, I love it. But I’ve just got to think, is it going to affect me or not? So I’m trying to find the right time to really get into his face. Otherwise, I would be there from the word go. I’d love it.”

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Briton Tim Henman labored for 4 hours 19 minutes late Tuesday before losing to qualifier Jerome Golmard. The Frenchman won, 6-3, 6-7 (7-3), 6-2, 3-6, 11-9.

In a warmup tournament last week, the No. 18 Henman beat Rafter and looked good doing it. He looked awful against Golmard, ranked No. 101.

Henman concurred.

“For the first set and a half, it’s the worst tennis I’ve ever played,” he said. “For someone of my ability, there’s no way I can let that happen.”