Hello Venus, Farewell Campbell  The Lipton, Thursday, March 26 By Ed Toombs

  With this report, OnTheLine finishes its daily reports from the Lipton. But please check back with us during the next few days, as we will be completing "Marsha Strong's Diary" and featuring an exclusive interview with 1997 US Davis Cup player Alex O'Brien.

One Williams too many for Martina

  Haven't we been here before? As she was two days ago, number one ranked Martina Hingis was once again battling for her life on Stadium Court, fighting off match points against a girl named Williams. This time the decision went the way of the Williams, as Venus won 6-2, 5-7, 6-2. Venus thus avenges her sister Serena's loss here as well as a defeat by Hingis two weeks ago in Indian Wells.

  On Tuesday Hingis had had to stave off two match points against the younger sister, Serena, in a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4) thriller. Now it was Venus holding Martina over the boiling oil, serving at 6-2, 5-3. Match point number one: Venus thinks she serves an ace. "Fault", shrieks the linesman. "BOOOO!" cries the pro-Williams crowd. Martina wallops a cross-court backhand winner off the second serve return. Match point number two: second serve again. Venus sends a backhand into the net. Match point number three: second serve again. Venus misses a forehand, struck five feet long. Hingis finally wins the marathon, five-deuce game, and the remaining three games of the set as well to pull even, 2-6, 7-5.

  After the match, Venus admitted to a case of the jitters during that sequence: "I was much too tight, too pumped."

  It was, however, Martina's only period of domination in the match, and Venus regained her composure quite nicely for the third set. The fresher Williams had sailed through her four matches without losing a set, and was more than ready to use her great speed to run down Martina's best-placed shots.

  Hingis had not been quite on her game this week. She had been extended to three tough sets by her two previous opponents, Testud and Serena, and seemed a tough heavy-legged and slower than usual to react from the baseline. "The reaction wasn't as normally it is. I had a day off, but if you continue playing three sets, then there's another one coming up. You know you're going to play Venus, it's hard. But I should have won easier the other matches, so I wouldn't be tired."

  One thing is for sure: Venus has Martina's attention after her successes against her this year. Hingis says that Venus and Anna Kournikova are presently her toughest opponents on tour -- "more Venus than Serena", she added. Hingis praised the improvement in Venus's game: "She got smarter. She changes the pace, mixes it up. That makes her a better player out there."

  One might suspect that Hingis would now feel pressure to change her game, develop more powerful strokes to counter these agile young sluggers. But she still thinks she can win with her trademark game of placement, court sense and foot speed. "I don't really need to hit the ball harder. I just try to use their pace and the pressure. Just be faster on the feet. That I wasn't today."

  So, can we say Venus has arrived? She describes the rapid maturing of her own game: "I was tired of losing in ridiculous ways. And this time last year I was unable to hit well because I was tall and unable to move laterally efficiently. I have worked on that." This was my impression too: Venus doesn't give the impression of hitting all her shots late, as she did at last year's Lipton. And she promises there's more improvement to come. "I haven't arrived yet. I'm just coming, on my way."

  There's no question this was a special win for Venus, to have knocked off the number one in front of her home crowd. After the match she did a celebration worthy of a Wimbledon title: she did a victory dance, pointed her index finger high in the air, executed the "raise the roof" gesture endemic to pro sports these days, and ran over to the family box to hug her parents. One shudders to think of what she might do should she win a Slam!

  Youth was also served in the other women's semifinal disputed today, and 16-year-old Anna Kournikova will take on Venus in the final. Kournikova, who has impressed the heck out me this week, overcame a strong start to outrun and outslug Arantxa Sanchez Vicario to prevail, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3. A rowdy late-night crowd, split fairly evenly between the two popular players, enjoyed the show. Hingis is right, these kids are pretty good!

  Campbell runs out of miracles

  One of the great stories of the Lipton came to an end, when Steve Campbell's glorious run came to an end at the hands of 8th-ranked Alex Corretja, by the decisive score of 6-3, 6-1.

  You have to love a guy like Steve Campbell, who was the feel-good story of the tournament. A 27-year-old veteran of the satellite and challenger wars, who almost gave up his pro tennis quest in frustration four years ago. Never a highly-touted as a junior, never receiving much support from the USTA, learning his tennis at a modest claycourt facility in Detroit. Travels the tour alone, without his Miami-based coach George Henry. No sponsors, just "a few people who helped me out along the way because I didn't have much money." Now here he was, the first qualifier to ever reach the Lipton quarterfinals, playing top-ten Spaniard Alex Corretja for a spot in the semifinals.

  The two had met once before, in the high altitude of Bogota in 1995. And Campbell actually did win that match, coming back from a 0-6 start to win 6-4 in the third. "That was one of my first big wins on the tour," remembers the modest, deeply religious and likeable Campbell. The other big wins? Campbell can count them on one hand. "Courier in Atlanta last year. Somebody else? I don't know. Byron Black last year in Coral Springs. I guess not too many...." This week his list of big wins has been padded considerably, as he has upset Mark Philippoussis, Todd Martin and Wayne Ferreira at the Lipton: Philippoussis and Martin in third-set tie-breakers, and Ferreira, 7-5 in the third.

  A fleet-footed right-hander with a smooth two-handed backhand who relies on speed and savvy as opposed to power, Campbell almost failed to get past his first-round qualifying match. "I got in late Sunday night from Asia. I was down a set, 4-0 [to Britain's Chris Wilkinson], just totally tired. I was able to grind it out, reach the main draw."

  Tonight he came back to earth against Corretja, who has quietly moved through the draw this week with wins over Courier, Blanco and Santoro. Corretja flashed a deadly, slashing backhand along with his topspin forehand, and never let Campbell into the match.

  What does the Spaniard have in store for Andre Agassi, his opponent in the semis, and against whom Corretja is 0-3 lifetime? "It's going to be a tough match for both, I guess. I'm going to try to move him, and try to see if he cannot attack my second serve so much. Play deep to see if I can win some points easy." Will Alex have some strategy sessions with fellow Iberian Albert Costa, who gave Andre considerable worries in the fourth round? No, he says he'd rather chat with Alberto than Albert. "I'm talking to Berasategui, it's better," quipped Corretja. Remember it was Alberto Berasategui who knocked Agassi out of the Australian Open....

  Incidentally, Alex spent the post-match interview with one eye on a TV monitor showing countrywoman Sanchez Vicario's match against Kournikova. "We're good friends, she's very nice. We had a few drinks together in Barcelona recently." He ventured a prediction: "I think Arantxa will win. She's playing well this week and has a lot more experience." Don't quit your day job, Alex.

  In the men's other quarterfinal played today, Agassi "routined" Jeff Tarango 6-4, 6-3 in a rather tame affair. Andre wasn't at his best, but didn't need to be against a sub-par opponent. Andre's comment about sums it up: "I don't think Jeff was playing great. I wasn't. I just stepped it up at the right times."

  For the record, Tarango picks Andre to win this tournament, but seems to have some doubts about the likely length of Agassi's resurgence. "I'd like to see how his dedication is on the clay. But he might forego that and wait for the grass. Who knows?"

  Doubles!:

The men's doubles action has been as riddled with upsets as the singles has been. The top-ranked "Woodies" were eliminated in their first match by South Africans Wayne Ferreira and David Adams; second seeds Eltingh/Haarhuis never saw action because of a wrist injury suffered by Haarhuis; third seeds Kafelnikov/Vacek were eliminated today in the quarterfinals by Broad/Norval; and fourth-seeded Bhupathi/Paes lost to Byron Black and Jim Grabb. The semi-final pairings are O'Brien/Stark vs Knowles/Nestor, and Broad/Norval vs Ellis Ferreira/Leach.

  Hingis recovered from her singles defeat sufficiently to advance to the women's doubles semifinals, along with partner Jana Novotna. The top-seeded team will face Martinez/Tarabini, who edged Fusai/Tauziat in a third-set tie-breaker that, according to reliable sources, featured a finger injury to Tarabini and ended with a downcast Tauziat in tears. The other semifinal will showcase an unseeded team, Halard/McQuillan, who defeated the outstanding fourth-seeded Basuki/Vis team earlier this week. They will play the winner of what should be a dandy match tomorrow: Kournikova/Neiland vs Sanchez Vicario/Zvereva.
 

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