Davenport cruises to maiden Slam

Swiss Hingis failed to win any of the last three Grand Slams of the year — the French Open, Wimbledon and now the US Open.

After winning the first set convincingly, Davenport allowed Hingis to come back from 1-4 down in the second. However, the American managed to pull together all her skills and finally took the set and the match.

Playing the power game to perfection, Mark Philippoussis defeated Carlos Moya 6-1, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 on Saturday to grab a spot in the men’s final.

If defending champion Patrick Rafter ousts top-seeded Pete Sampras in the second semifinal, it would be the first all-Australian final at the US Open since 1970 when Ken Rosewall defeated TonyRoche.

Philippoussis hammered 21 aces and early on overwhelmed his Spanish opponent under a blazing sun at Arthur Ashe stadium.

In the first two sets, the Australian pounded his groundstrokes, keeping the 10th seed pinned to the baseline or reduced to watching winners whiz past. And when he was at the net, Philippoussis was awesome.

In the third set, Moya finally showed glimpses of the game that took him to victory at the French Open. He saved four break points to hold serve in the 11th game, then won the set when Philippoussis double-faulted the last two points. But that was the only blip, and it was far too late to catch Philippoussis.

After falling behind love-40 in the seventh game of the fourth set, Moya could not make another escape. Philippoussis had to hold only his next two serves to move into the final, and he did that easily.