February 4, 2000: Roger Federer masters Mark Philippoussis in Davis Cup
Entering the season from outside the top-300, the 17-year-old Roger Federer had a stellar run in 1999, making his first big steps on the Tour and finishing as one of the youngest players in the elite top-100 group together with Guillermo Coria, Lleyton Hewitt, Andreas Vinciguerra and his junior doubles partner Olivier Rochus. Super talented Swiss had the opportunity to make a Davis Cup debut against Italy that year, helping his country to defeat Italy before losing against the Belgians in Brussels on clay. Switzerland had the opportunity to compete in World Group in 2000 as well, hosting the defending champions Australia in Zurich on an indoor carpet surface.
The tie took place between February 4-6 and it was Lleyton Hewitt who opened it with a four-set win over George Bastl before Roger Federer and Mark Philippoussis stepped on the court for the second singles rubber. After a great battle of the future Wimbledon finalists, Roger scored a 6-4, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 win in two hours and 40 minutes to level the overall score and keep Switzerland in contention before the Saturday's doubles match that he also played. It was an entertaining battle between two attacking players and good servers, using the fast indoor surface to deliver a lot of winners and charming points.
Mark saved break points in the opening game of the match to avoid an early setback, with Roger putting his name on the scoreboard with an ace in game two. The youngster was in an excellent rhythm, drawing first blood in the fifth game when Philippoussis sprayed a volley error to lose serve and send Roger 3-2 up. Serving for the set, the Swiss fired three winners in game ten to secure the opener, hoping for more of the same in the rest of the encounter. Mark bounced back in the fourth game of the second set, scoring his first break of the match when Roger netted an easy forehand and confirming the lead with an ace a few minutes later for a 4-1.
Serving for the set at 5-3, Mark got broken at love after a beautiful backhand down the line winner from Roger who won the tie break 7-3 thanks to a volley winner to perform a complete comeback and take a massive two sets to love lead. The Aussie saved a break point in the second game of the third set and he forced an error from Federer in the next game to take his first lead of the match. Unlike in the second set when he played a loose service game in the crucial moment, Philippoussis blasted four winners in the tenth game to grab the set 6-4 and prolong the encounter, winning just six points less than Federer so far in the match and preparing himself for another assault in set number four as well.
He had a chance to strike an early break that would have given him even bigger momentum but Roger fends off three break points in the opening game to stay on the positive side of the scoreboard, struggling in game three as well before another vital hold for a 2-1. Mark held with a service winner in the eighth game to level the score at 4-4 and he had to serve to stay in the match after a great hold from Roger that pushed him 5-4 in front. Carried by the home crowd, Roger opened that tenth game with a forehand winner and earning a crucial break when Mark hit a double fault to seal the deal and celebrate one of the most significant wins of his young career up to that point.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2TAjDQ0
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