In mixed doubles action, the top seeds, Anna Kournikova and Jonas Bjorkman, were looking for their first complete match in the tournament. Both opponents before their quarterfinal opponents, Elena Likhovtseva and Jeff Tarango, had retired from their matches. Corina Morariu had wisely pulled out of her match after feeling a slight abdominal strain, as she still had her women's doubles matches to play.

Elena Likhovtseva and Jeff Tarango seemed like an odd pair. Elena, the quiet, often emotionless player on the singles court; and Jeff Tarango, the controversial character who's probably made less money than he has been fined. Nevertheless, they have played mixed doubles together regularly at the slams, and have had their share of success.

Elena started off the match pretty well, probably wanting to get some good tennis in after her disappointing loss in singles the previous day. Unlike when playing singles, though, she was relaxed and had a few laughs with Jeff throughout the match. As the match progressed, though, she would have her brilliant streaks, and then start to be victimized by Jonas. Maybe the statement makes Jonas sound heartless, but while he wasn't exactly hitting at Elena at every chance, he wasn't exactly making life easy for her either. Jeff took the cue, and occasionally, when pressed, went at Anna. No matter how much this is discussed, there will never be a cure for mixed doubles politics. It's good that most of the men remain gentlemen, though, when playing at the Grand Slams. Besides, Elena had her husband around somewhere, and Anna had the throngs of able-bodied young men in the stands.

Jeff might have felt the pressure to perform, and while Elena was doing a good job on court, he would often go for a little too much, and came up short more often than not. With consistent play from Anna and Jonas, and streaky play by Elena and Jeff, the top seeds had a straightforward 6-3 6-2 win to move into the semifinals. The crowd was treated to some spectacular shots from all four players, though, so the match wasn't as straightforward as the score indicates.

The match ended just in time for me to rush over to center court, where Jennifer Capriati would meet the first real yardstick of her tournament, Lindsay Davenport. While about a year ago, this match would have been a competition on who could hold serve, Lindsay has been working on her serve through the months, and has developed one that can earn her a point as quickly and easily as her famed service returns. That would be her main game advantage against Jennifer, who had troubles with double-faults at tight points in her previous matches. Other than that, Lindsay obviously has more confidence and match toughness coming into the tournament.

Jennifer started the match serving, and surprisingly, held serve easily. Lindsay had just as easy a time with her service game, and both players were off to an even start at 1-all. In the third game, though, Lindsay started to get her service returns back in high gear, and was cracking her returns as she usually does. A little shaken, Jennifer lost her serve without much of a fight. Despite running on an emotional high from having "made it back" on the tour, Jennifer was still carrying a lot of rust on her. And despite everything that she's gone through in her 24 years, she could still be considered a semi-rookie on the tour. A little ironic that Lindsay grew up with Jennifer as one of her idols.

In the fourth game, though, Jen managed to shake off the nervous start, and was hitting her groundies just as we watched her grow up hitting. Having matured in every way possible, though, she's capable of a lot more this time around, and was actually doing a good job of matching Lindsay shot for shot. Jen found herself producing the first error more often than not, though, but stuck to what she knew best. She started hitting the ball harder, trying to move Lindsay around. Still coming out on top, Lindsay got the double-break and jumped to a 4-1 lead.

Breaking Lindsay's serve was a daunting task with the way Jennifer was playing, and Jennifer was having trouble getting to the ball, let alone blasting it. She looked to be in trouble when Lindsay held serve after 40-15, the lone point for Jen coming from a double-fault by Lindsay after a bit of confusion between her first and second serves.

On a lucky break, serving to stay in the set, a couple of reasonable first serves got the service return errors from Lindsay, who might have been trying to end things a little too quick. Jen got her service game for the second time in the match. Losing the first set looked inevitable, though, with Lindsay serving at 5-2. As the two walked on court, cries of "come on, Jennifer," echoed through the sterile conditions within the closed roof in the Rod Laver Arena. Four good strong serves from the #2 seed put a close to all hopes, and she took the first set 6-2.

Looking fully concentrated during the changeover, Jen walked out on court a little ahead of time. Which was a good thing, as she was so engrossed in thinking about what she had to do to stop the Lindsay Express that she went to the wrong side, and quickly turned around to go back to the other side before reaching the service line. Things still weren't looking good for her, though, and she found herself down break point. Another unforced error from Lindsay saved her, and Jen got the advantage, but blew it on an easy forehand. Shouting in frustration, Jennifer rushed herself, and double-faulted at crunch time.

In a turn of events, though, Jen actually chipped and charged her way out of trouble, trying to get the break back, and got the point easily. Maybe it was good that she played doubles with someone who forced her to be at net. There was little chance of her repeating, though, and she stayed back for most if not all of the rest of the match. She got the errors off Lindsay's racquet, and got the break back.

With renewed confidence, there was more bounce to Jennifer's steps and more sting on her shots. In a tremendous rally that tested both players' nerves as well as the line judges, Jennifer out-rallied Lindsay, adding to her building confidence. Jen had taken the momentum, and was doing a good job of keeping it. Here she was, Jennifer Capriati, first the big star, the troubled teen, then finally the washed up has-been, giving the world's number two and arguably the equal to the world number one. She continued to fight for the points, took her service game, and for the first time since the opening game, was ahead in the match.

Her own service game soon hung in the balance, though, as errors, both forced and otherwise, were starting to reappear in both players' games. The hit-or-miss style adopted by the two of them kept everyone in suspense, as any point could go any way in the blink of an eye. Games continued on serve, with Lindsay having more difficulty on her games than Jen. At 4-3, Jen took 3 quick points with some gutsy play, and got the break back on a marvelous inside-out forehand that landed precisely on the line.

Jen continued to go for her shots, and between a couple missing their mark and Lindsay's determination to keep a clean record in the tournament, Jen was immediately broken back. It was interesting to see, by the way, that it was the middle-aged and beyond that were more "into" the match. The youngsters had probably bought tickets to see Martina, and they probably couldn't appreciate all that both Jennifer and Lindsay had gone through in their respective careers to get where they are today.

In a remarkable show of tenacity, Jen continued to pressure Lindsay into coming up with a good first serve. Crushing every second serve that came her way, Jen broke serve for the second time in a row. The only surprise here was that it had taken a set and a half for the match to turn into a competition of who could hold serve first. For the first time in the second set, Jennifer showed a bit of nerves, as she double-faulted yet again. Jen fought back, though, blasting shot after shot deep into the back of the court, and after going up 40-30, blasted a good serve to force an error from Lindsay.

Lindsay was in unfamiliar territory, serving to stay in the second set. She picked up her game, and sent Jennifer scrambling all over the court, but Jen kept her hopes of breaking serve alive. Saving one shot after another, she got the 18th unforced forehand error off Lindsay. She threw it away, though, when she smacked a backhand service return into the net, bringing the second set to a tie-breaker.

Both players got good strong first serves in, Jennifer getting her first ace down the middle to go up 3-2. She wasted mini-break opportunity on Lindsay's second serve, though, dumping the backhand into the net. The crowd was treated to more excellent hard-hitting from both players, and wanting to see a third set, was slightly in favour of Jennifer. Lindsay Davenport finally got the mini-break at 5-4, and had the opportunity to serve out the match. Jennifer wasn't ready to go, though, and hit a beautiful winner on the service return. The crowd cheered in delight, and suddenly, the line judge made a late call. The crowd "aah"-ed, and there were jeers from many who thought the call was bad, but Jen shook it off and looked toward the next point. Which took a lot of courage, as instead of evening up the set again at 5-all, Lindsay had 2 match points at 6-4. Robbed of the chance to take the second set, Jen hit a forehand into the net, ending her remarkable run in the tournament.

She congratulated Lindsay at the net, and was all smiles as the announcer asked to crowd to show their appreciation for her efforts. His words were barely audible, though, as the crowd was already giving her a standing ovation. She smiled and waved as she packed her bag and walked off the court, signing a couple of autographs on the way. If Jennifer Capriati has finally found peace within herself, it should be now, reaching a semifinal in a Grand Slam event, getting more space from the media, having a coach she likes to work with, testing the mettle of one of the top players in the world, and finally walking away from a tough match with a smile on her face.

She later portrayed a peacefulness after a loss probably not seen before from her at the press conference. She must have taken satisfaction in knowing that she had played an overall cleaner match than Lindsay. In fact, match statistics later would show that Jennifer had a much better first serve percentage, equal numbers of double-faults and winners, and fewer unforced errors than Lindsay.

After a short break, Martina Hingis and Conchita Martinez arrived on court at the Rod Laver Arena. While the previous match had featured flat-out hard hitting from both players, this match would delight the fans with beautiful touch and crafty play. Still brandishing her topspin groundstrokes, Conchita employed a distinctly different approach to playing against Martina. Instead of engaging in a long, tiresome rally in which she was as likely to come up with the first error as her opponent was, she instead played a game of cat and mouse with Martina, drawing Martina to one area of the court, then pouncing on the ball for a clever winner. Getting a short response, Conchita would come in to net on every other point. The main problem Martina had in the beginning was reading Conchita's shots. Conchita was doing a very good job of disguising her intentions, and in addition to having to read the longitude and latitude of the ball's target, she also had to predict the spin and pace of the ball coming off the racquet. Conchita was doing a pretty good shot mixing things up, keeping the Swiss guessing.

Anticipating shots is what Martina does best, though, and after having a bit of difficulty in the first set, she soon figured it out, and served at 5-3 for the first set. Conchita was still fighting to stay in the match, though, and at 30-all, after an amazing run from way outside the rear left corner of the court to get a drop-shot that dribbled over the net, Martina scratched her head while walking back to the baseline, the smile on her face showing her amusement at the task of having to figure out how to shut this match out as quickly as she had against Arantxa slightly more than 24 hours ago.

At this point, Conchita was starting to mis-time a lot of her forehands, not able to find the delicate balance between hitting and brushing the ball. Martina brought things back to the way she liked them, and soon jumped to a 3-0 lead, holding two breaks of serve. Here, she started rushing things a little, which worked to help Conchita, but Martina soon learned her lesson, and went back to her previous game plan. Conchita had a chance to get one break back at 3-0, but Martina liked the security of having two breaks, and got a couple of quick points to go up 4-0.

Finally cutting down on her unforced errors, Conchita played a good service game, and once again caught Hingis off-guard, as daunting a task as it is, by mixing things up. She managed to run Martina around a bit, and after all the hard work, held serve to finally get on the scoreboard. Martina didn't let the momentum slip away, though, and got some good serves in to take her service game easily. Serving to stay in the tournament, Conchita mustered up all her energy and experience, and saved her service game, giving her her second game of the set.

Martina how had the chance to serve for the set, but she had her difficulties. Serving for the match at 40-30, Conchita played a marvelous point, and saved one match point. A careless shot in the next gave Martina match point #2, though, and despite a good effort from the Spaniard, took the match 6-3 6-2. That put Martina Hingis through to her fourth straight final appearance at the Australian Open, and waiting for her there, having an equally easy road through, would be her first real challenge, Lindsay Davenport. Before they would face off two days later, though, they had a doubles semifinal to think about.

Over at Court one, Martina was given reasonable time to rest before she playing her second match of the day. She and Mary Pierce would take on Lindsay and Corina Morariu, the second seeds. Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs had already gone through the draw days earlier and were waiting in the finals.

The crowd was especially rowdy today, and were tossing balls across the courts to amuse themselves. A lot of the balls didn't make it across, though, and soon, all the balls the spectators had brought with them were lying still all over the court. Then came the chant, "Give us the ball back", over and over again until some sympathetic soul on court picked up a couple and threw them back into the stands. After a while, when all the balls were back on the court and none else were anywhere to be found, they started the Mexican wave. Round and round the stadium, until finally, the four players made their appearance.

Lindsay and Corina won the toss, and elected to receive. Mary and Marina were ready, though, and Lindsay looked a little more tired than Martina, despite Lindsay having had more time to rest than her final opponent. Maritna and Mary soon jumped to a 5-0 lead, to the delight of the crowd. Mary especially was really loving the atmosphere, and had a nearly perpetual smile on her face at the remarks (none rude, for once) coming from the stands. During one changeover, after yet another Mexican wave episode, a group of guys were yelling, "Give us a wave, Mary", and Mary complied with a small wave, amused at the whole thing. The crowd appreciated the gesture, but wasn't satisfied with it, and soon, shouts of "Give us a wave, Martina" were heard. Martina had been taking something out of her bag when Mary waved, so she was a little puzzled but amused nonetheless at the crowd's reaction. Finally understanding what had happened, she herself gave a small wave, to the delight of the spectators.

At 5-0, however, Mary and Martina started to realize that their changeover break was running a little long. The umpire had forgotten to mention that the trainer had been called. When the trainer finally appeared, it was for Lindsay, surprisingly, and not Corina. After barely 2 seconds, Lindsay walked over to Mary and Martina to apologize for having to retire from the match, amid sighs of disappointment from the crowd. Lindsay has been sporting a wrap on her upper thigh in her last few matches, and cited a hamstring injury for her decision.

And that sets up the women's singles and doubles final. Martina Hingis would take on Lindsay Davenport, with the knowledge that she lost three finals in a row to the American last year. And for the fourth straight year, Martina would feature in the doubles final as well, amazingly enough with 4 different partners. The other team will be no pushover, Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs very familiar with each other's games, and having 5 titles under their belt last year.

On the men's side, a match worthy of being the final was about to take place, between Steff-, uh, I mean, Andre Agassi, and Pete Sampras.