MELBOURNE, JAN 15: Australian Mark Philippoussis deployed sizzling forehands and courtside antics to beat American Michael Chang today, putting him into the finals of a tune-up event for next week's Australian Open.Philippoussis, defending champion of the Colonial Classic exhibition at Kooyong, fought back from a tie break loss to win 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 6-3, setting up a final against 18th ranked Thomas Enqvist of Sweden.The match slipped from Chang after Philippoussis engineered a courtside distraction, stealing a sweet from a spectator as the American was poised to level the second set at 6-6.Serving at 40-30 but ever gracious, Chang gave his opponent time to gulp the candy down with a glass of water, then promptly lost the next three points to hand Philippoussis the first break of the match.In other action, Croatian Goran Ivanisevic dropped out of the eight-man exhibition, nursing a pinched nerve in his back ahead of the year's first Grand Slam tournament.He was replaced by 86th ranked MikaelTillstrom of Sweden who defeated jet-lagged Briton Tim Henman, the world's number seven, 7-5 6-1, and was scheduled to play an invitation match against Philippoussis' compatriot Patrick Rafter tomorrow.Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov rebounded to crush Czech Petr Korda 1-6, 6-1, 6-2. Davenport-Hingis showdownSYDNEY: Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis set up a pre-Melbourne showdown today with semifinal victories in a warm-up tournament.But their performances at the Sydney International gave few clues away before the year's first Grand Slam event, where defending champion Hingis will be hoping to topple Davenport from the top of the rankings.In the first men's semifinal, American Todd Martin was in devastating form, blasting past gritty former world number one Thomas Muster 6-2, 6-1 in just 53 minutes.World number one Davenport was patient and effective, but still well short of last season's best, as she ousted comeback queen Steffi Graf 6-2, 7-5 on a sweltering Sydney summer day.Inthe other semifinal, Hingis just held her nerve to see off a surprisingly fierce challenge from Barbara Schett 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5).Top seed defaults HOBART: Fifth seed Chanda Rubin of the United States advanced to the final of the Tasmanian International women's tennis tournament today when top seed Julie Halard-Decugis withdrew because of injury.Frenchwoman Halard-Decugis pulled out of the tournament before their scheduled semifinal, complaining of a mild abdominal strain.That left Rubin to play in today's title decider against the winner of the later semifinal between American Amy Frazier and Italy's Rita Grande.
