Aussie Looking Awesome

Mark Philippoussis surfed for a week near his home in North San Diego County after returning from his appearance in the Wimbledon final earlier this month.

On Tuesday, the 6-foot-4 Australian continued to ride his newfound wave of confidence and fitness, dispatching countryman Adam Kennedy, 6-3, 6-2, in a first-round match in the Mercedes-Benz Cup at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

Philippoussis, seeded fifth, made his run to the Wimbledon final after coming back from a 1999 knee injury that required three surgeries and left him in a wheelchair for a few months.

Last week, Philippoussis said he was intent on improving his strength and stamina in preparation for the heat, humidity and hardcourt conditions he will encounter through next month’s U.S. Open in New York. He played doubles with Lleyton Hewitt on Monday, giving him the opportunity to ease into singles competition against Kennedy.

“I have a long way to go, but I feel like I built a good base for my fitness,” Philippoussis said after the match. “I definitely feel strong.”

Philippoussis will play Michael Chang, who defeated Zack Fleishman, 6-1, 6-1, late Tuesday night.

Seven of the eight seeded players won their first-round matches. Sixth-seeded Marat Safin of Russia retired in the first set against former USC player Prakash Amritraj.

“I got injured, I felt a lot of pain in my wrist, I could not hit a backhand so I decided to stop. That’s it,” Safin said.

Amritraj, who won his first ATP match last week at Indianapolis, said he was surprised when Safin walked off the court with Amritraj leading, 5-3.

“He’s sometimes known for being temperamental,” Amritraj said. “When he was throwing his arms up in the air I just figured that’s how he does it.”

Wild-card Michael Joyce upset 2002 tournament finalist Jan-Michael Gambill, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-6 (4). Joyce will play tonight against Hewitt, who was stretched in a 6-0, 7-5 victory over former USC player Cecil Mamiit.

“It got into a little bit of a dogfight toward the end of the second set,” said Hewitt, playing his first singles match since losing in the first round at Wimbledon. “His confidence level obviously got higher and higher and I had to dig deep to win. I’m happy to be through in straight sets.”

Second-seeded Sebastien Grosjean started slowly before coming back to defeat Xavier Malisse, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. Fourth-seeded Gustavo Kuerten also needed three sets to defeat Frederic Niemeyer, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4.

“He surprised me a little with his big serves,” Kuerten said. “I was missing some opportunities in the first and second set to get the breaks. Finally, after hanging in there for almost two hours, I got the break in the third.”

Third-seeded Sjeng Schalken defeated Denis Golovanov, 6-4, 6-4. Seventh-seeded Wayne Ferreira, eighth-seeded Vincent Spadea and Robby Ginepri and Nicolas Kiefer also advanced.

Joyce, 30, defeated Gambill in a match continued from Monday night because of rain. They began play Tuesday at 5-5 in the first set.

Joyce defeated Jim Courier in a second-round Mercedes-Benz Cup match in 1995, but he has spent most of the last few years struggling to come back from a wrist injury suffered in 1997.

Joyce was considering retiring at the end of the year, but those plans might be put on hold after Tuesday’s performance.

“I never expected to beat somebody of Gambill’s caliber,” he said. “That might change my mind a little bit.”