Martin’s Rally Is Stunner in 5 Sets : U.S. Open: After two-set deficit, he comes back and finishes by winning 20 of last 21 points. Hingis, Venus Williams breeze.

The loser wasn’t even tired, looking as if he could serve-and-volley for another set or two. Just as inexplicably, the hollow-eyed winner needed several minutes to lift his aching and ailing body from his courtside chair.

For once, the weary, and winning warrior was Todd Martin.

His greatest victory was perhaps his bravest, as the seventh-seeded Martin recovered from a two-sets-to-none deficit to defeat ninth-seeded Greg Rusedski of Great Britain, 5-7, 0-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 6-4, in the fourth round of the U.S. Open.

The 3-hour 1-minute match started on Tuesday night and ended this morning at 12:14 EDT. Martin’s thrilling comeback had the crowd on its feet, delivering several standing ovations and chanting: “Let’s Go Todd!!”

Martin punctuated the victory in stellar, stunning fashion, winning 20 of the final 21 points, as he rallied from a 4-1, fifth-set deficit, including a stretch of 18 consecutive points. Afterward, he needed intravenous fluids and was unable to talk to media for more than an hour.

Martin was facing formidable odds before he even stepped on the court. He has been ailing from a stomach virus and need three bags of intravenous fluids on Monday.

After he lost the second set, 6-0, in 21 minutes, Martin appeared finished, looking a lot like he did in his Davis Cup match against Australia’s Patrick Rafter in July.

Nevertheless, in this U.S. Open of injuries, Martin kept plugging away resolutely. And suddenly, the tenor of the match changed dramatically when Rusedski served for the match at 5-4 in the third set and Martin promptly broke him at 15.

“I thought it was done, but as soon as you make a couple of shots and you play a fourth set, you never know,” said a drained Martin.

Said Rusedski: “I definitely should have won that match. I lost that match, Todd didn’t win that match today. Obviously, I’m extremely disappointed and upset because I should be in the quarterfinals. But I’m not and it’s just one of those days.”

It was an encounter that certainly will go down as one of those legendary U.S. Open night matches. Again, Martin was close to a fourth-round exit when Rusedski took a 4-1 lead in the fifth set. It turned one more time--for good--when Martin began his run by holding at love to pull to 4-2.

“I don’t know if it was the crowd or smelling salts that got me going,” Martin said. “It was exciting. Quite a moment.”

Martin kept remembering past victories against Rusedski, and those thoughts helped pull him through as well. He is now 6-1 against Rusedski, including a straight-set win in the first round of Davis Cup this year.

“This is worse than the Davis Cup,” Rusedski said. “I feel in good shape. I’m not tired and I know he’s absolutely gone now.”

The stirring drama was confined to the men’s matches on Tuesday, as the women advanced in routine fashion. Top-seeded Martina Hingis recorded a 6-2, 6-0 quarterfinal victory against Anke Huber of Germany and reinforced the fact that all the media trainers in the world can’t stop Hingis from being Hingis.

In the span of a few minutes, she critiqued New York and Florida. And later, it was revealed that Hingis gave some tennis pointers to her buddy 12th-seeded Barbara Schett of Austria against third-seeded Venus Williams. Those suggestions went for naught as Williams beat Schett, 6-4, 6-3, in 69 minutes in their quarterfinal at night.

Williams and Hingis will meet in the semifinals on Friday, and the buildup began almost immediately after Williams hit her final backhand return for a winner.

The question was posed to Williams: If Hingis is at her best and Williams is at her best, who wins?

“Me,” she said. “If I’m playing my best, it’s tough, guys, come on.”

Earlier, Hingis was hardly humble after she won the final 12 games against an overmatched Huber.

“If I see somebody’s weakness, I can work on that,” Hingis said. “Other players, even when they know I have probably a weaker forehand than backhand, they still can’t use that.

“Otherwise, they would beat me. Sometimes you lose, it happens. But not that often.”

Meanwhile, the men continued to be hit by The Great Injury Bug of ‘99, which claimed another victim Tuesday. Magnus Norman of Sweden strained his lower back in the 11th game of the first set against fifth-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, and was forced to retire in the first game of the second set after he lost the opener in a tiebreaker.

Norman said he felt “a click” in his lower back when he hit a service return on break point.

Seven players in the men’s draw have retired during matches because of injuries or cramps. That doesn’t even include four others who didn’t make it to the Open, among others, Pete Sampras and Mark Philippoussis.

Tennis Notes

The longtime dream of John McEnroe being named U.S. Davis Cup captain is expected to come true today here at a U.S. Tennis Assn. news conference. McEnroe, 40, all but confirmed the appointment on Monday night on USA Network. Commentator Ted Robinson asked McEnroe if he had anything to tell him. A smiling McEnroe said: “Soon, very soon.”

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SPORT ON UPSWING

Even without Pete Sampras and Patrick Rafter, the U.S. Open is luring fans and showing why tennis is alive and well again. Page 6

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