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Power-hitters favourites for titles
Power-hitters Jennifer Capriati and Marat Safin are favourites to lift the women's and men's crowns at the Australian Open tennis championships this weekend.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 08:27 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Melbourne:
Power-hitters Jennifer Capriati and Marat Safin are favourites to lift the women's and men's crowns at the Australian Open tennis championships this weekend. Capriati, who will keep her world No 1 ranking whatever the result of tomorrow's final, faces the quicksilver Martina Hingis, who is trying to win her first Grand Slam title for three years in her sixth consecutive final in Melbourne. Safin, who will be 22 on finals day on Sunday, escaped from the brink of defeat against Tommy Haas in today's men's semi-finals when a 50-minute rain break enabled him to regroup and beat the German seventh seed in five absorbing sets. Safin, the 2000 US Open champion who had beaten 13-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras on his way to the last four, rallied from two sets to one down to win 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 and plays 16th seed Thomas Johansson of Sweden in Sunday's final. Neither finalist has won the Australian Open crown before and Johansson is attempting to become the lowest-ranked player to win here since unseeded Australian Mark Edmondson triumphed in 1976. Hingis was crushed in straight sets in last year's decider against Capriati but believes she has come back stronger than ever after a three-month break at the end of last year for an ankle operation. (PTI)Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis
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