Favored Rafter Is Upset by Spaniard

Blood seeped down Patrick Rafter’s right leg from a nasty gash. His blistered toes had to be wrapped and re-wrapped. Sweat dripped from his pony-tailed head and down his body, forming puddles wherever he stood.

Across the net, little Alberto Berasategui’s preppy hair was barely mussed, not a bead of perspiration marred his forehead, and he wore the impassive look of a man waiting for a bus.

The crowd roared thirstily for Rafter, and Berasategui played as if no one were around.

Rafter was the heart of this Australian Open, the winner of the U.S. Open and seeded No. 2. Nearly everyone expected him to play in the quarterfinals against Andre Agassi and go on to the final. But he hit the wall Saturday night against the 5-foot-8 Spaniard and lost 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (9-7), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).

“I’m sorry,” Berasategui said of playing the spoiler’s role, though of course he wasn’t.

Berasategui’s astonishing victory didn’t just shock Rafter and the 15,000 fans who screamed and sang and stomped for him. It went against all reason: a clay court specialist with an upside-down forehand, hardly any backhand, and no net game, beating a serve-and-volleyer on a hard court in his homeland.

And Berasategui, a surprise finalist in the 1994 French Open who had never gone beyond the third round of any other major tournament, had to come from behind to reach the round of 16 against Agassi.

Rafter led a set and a break at 4-2 in the second when the power went out of his game.

“I felt I couldn’t break an egg,” he said.

He didn’t blame the seven hours he played over two matches against Jeff Tarango and Todd Martin. He said his body felt fine, though mentally he was getting exhausted. He had his chances in this match, wasted three set points in the second-set tiebreaker, and blew an opportunity to extend the match to a fifth set.

“I was very negative and wasn’t thinking straight,” said Rafter. “I never felt comfortable from the word go.”

Feeling just the opposite was his fellow countryman, Todd Woodbridge, who upset fifth-seeded Greg Rusedski of Britain, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-2, with the best returning performance of his career.

U.S. Open runner-up Rusedski came out firing his 129 mph serves at the slight Australian and usually they were sent quickly back.

“I think there have been matches where I’ve returned very well, but not better,” Woodbridge said.

Woodbridge felt Rusedski tried to “blow me off the court” but was thrown when he served three double faults in the opening game of the match.

“It was fun today, that is what the hard work is for,” Woodbridge said.

For Rusedski, everything went wrong.

Unable to harness his biggest weapon, he also was upset by five foot faults--all from the same linesman at the same end of the court.

“It’s hard when you hit an ace at deuce and 4-4 in the second set, and the guy calls a foot fault after the ball is by Woodbridge,” Rusedski said. “It’s a little hard to swallow . . . .”

Rusedski missed a good chance to follow up on his performance in the U.S. Open, where he lost to Rafter in the final.

“It’s definitely a wasted opportunity,” Rusedski said.

“I wasn’t aggressive enough. I didn’t attack the ball, especially on the returns, and I wasn’t serving well today.”

Woodbridge went in with a plan to make the taller Rusedski reach low for volleys whenever possible, and the strategy forced the Briton into several poor shots.

Woodbridge, a semifinal loser to Pete Sampras at Wimbledon last year, enjoyed his victory on home soil.

“We play a lot of our tennis overseas and to play the best tennis at home, that’s one of the best feelings you can possibly have,” he said.

Rafter, meanwhile, can think about what might have been, that he’d be playing Agassi next. Now, Rafter said, he’ll go fishing and drink beer, instead.