Tennis: Aussie ace on course to retain title

Mark Philippoussis moved within one victory of his first successful ATP title defence when rallying to beat former world number one Jim Courier at the Sybase Open in San Jose, California. The second-seeded Australian fired 13 aces past the fifth-seeded American to reach tonight's final of the £250,000 event. Philippoussis will play for a £33,000 top prize against unseeded Swede Mikael Tillstrom, who ousted seventh seed Wayne Ferreira of South Africa 7-6 (9/7) 2-6 6-3 in the other semi-final.

Meanwhile, Magnus Norman failed to repeat the form that carried him into the semi-finals of the Australian Open as he suffered a stunning first-round exit from the Dubai Open. The second seeded Swede was beaten 7-6 (8/6) 7-5 by Morocco's Karim Alami, who took advantage of his sluggish opponent. Alami, who also beat Norman in a doubles match on Monday, moved more swiftly than the Swede and made less errors to earn his upset victory.

"The doubles match got me into the tournament and gave me some rhythm, and I took confidence from playing him the day before," said Alami. "I saw he was not playing very well. I didn't do any special tennis, but he helped me out. I knew if I attacked him a little bit and played more to his forehand, if he misses a lot he loses a lot of confidence."

Top seed Nicolas Kiefer struggled before claiming a 6-1 2-6 6-4 win over qualifier Lars Burgsmuller. In other matches, Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain overcame Czech qualifier Martin Damm 6-3 7-6 (7-1) and another Spaniard, Fernando Vicente, beat India's Leander Paes 6-0 4-6 6-3.

Elsewhere, Marc Rosset won the first all-Swiss final of an ATP Tour tournament when he beat young compatriot Roger Federer 2-6 6-3 7-6 in the final of the Marseille Open this afternoon. A little inconsistent at first, Rosset improved his serve after losing the first set. It was his third victory in the Mediterranean city following titles in 1993 and 1994.

"It's always pleasant to win a tournament and especially the first all-Swiss final in history. My name will remain in the record books," said the former Olympic champion.