Hingis had another her fifth but again Graf pulled it out of the fire

Hingis had another, her fifth, but again Graf pulled it out of the fire.At that point, with the atmosphere on the stadium court electric, Hingis threw her racquet down in frustration. Playing under cloudy skies that threatened rain throughout the hour and a half the match lasted, Hingis raced to a 5-3 lead, due both to her own consistency of penetration and an unusually high quota of Graf errors.Serving for the set, Hingis blew one set point by netting a forehand, but it looked to be of no consequence when Graf - who at 4-5 needed treatment for a problem with her left knee - stood at 0-40 on her own serve in the next game. The top seed survived four set points against Martina Hingis in a dramatic climax to the first set of their rain delayed semi-final as Hingis threatened to pursue a generational change she started in the fourth round when she beat Graf's contemporary Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. This time age and experience triumphed over the exuberance of youth, and perhaps the women's tennis authorities will heave a private sigh of relief that a 15-year-old (Hingis turns 16 in three weeks) will not be in a Grand Slam final.The Women's Tennis Association Tour was bold in introducing strict age regulations two years ago to prevent girls playing professional tennis too soon (Hingis just escaped the new rules), and while Hingis could probably have handled the pressure of being a US Open finalist, it might have sent all the wrong signals to pushy parents of gifted girls. Henman or no Henman, the selling of non-Wimbledon tennis in this country is a long game.. Steffi Graf had to draw on all her experience and her best tennis to make it through to today's dream women's final against Monica Seles at the United States Open. Even with Samsung sponsoring the event to the tune of around pounds 100,000 and other deals, the LTA are underwriting the $400,000 (pounds 260,000) prize money and do not expect to make a profit for some years. So we were very pleased to get it."If you are thinking of buying one, an ATP Tour event like Bournemouth will probably set you back between pounds 500,000 and pounds 750,000.

"There were various other places competing for it," Feaver said "Spain, Italy, Romania. Unfortunately for the women that meant the end of the event that took place in Brighton until last year.But to gain a place on the ATP tour, the LTA first had to buy another tournament - and there was one going in Bordeaux. As it is, about 75 per cent of seats have been sold for the final a week today, but there is still plenty of space for earlier rounds.The Bournemouth event deserves to succeed, and even in Henman's absence it probably will because it can offer other big names in Sergi Bruguera, Alberto Costa and Andrei Medvedev while tapping into a tradition of international tennis in the town, host of the British hard-court championships until 1983, and in 1968 the scene of the first tournament in the Open era anywhere in the world.The LTA wanted to re- establish a leading men's event in Britain both to reflect and help enhance the growing status of domestic men's tennis. There had been, Feaver said, 15 calls from disgruntled people who had bought their tickets in the hope of seeing Henman. "What we're looking for is a lot of people paying on the day," Feaver said.Meanwhile, Feaver is working to keep up interest in next week's international men's clay-court event at Bournemouth after Henman withdrew with the groin injury he was suffering from while on his way to the fourth round of the US Open last week. "I'm not sure the team really need him, but from my point of view it wouldn't half help," Feaver said last week.

Only about a fifth of the tickets have so far been sold, a disappointing figure considering they cost pounds 6 each and that the tie will give people another last chance to see No 1 court at Wimbledon, its demolition having been delayed to accommodate the Davis Cup. If Henman plays and the weather forecast is good, Feaver is hoping that three-quarters of the 6,500 seats will be filled on each of the three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 20 to 22 September. The WTA introduced strict age regulations two years ago to prevent girls playing professional tennis too soon - Hingis just escaped the new rules.. Nobody will be more anxious that Tim Henman regains his fitness in time to play for Great Britain against Egypt in the Davis Cup in a fortnight's time than John Feaver, director of events at the Lawn Tennis Association. As the man responsible for selling tennis to a British public whose fixation with Wimbledon leaves little room in their hearts for any other domestic tournaments, Feaver needs all the help he can get - and at the moment Henman counts for a lot. Graf needed to draw on all her experience to thwart the challenge of the Swiss wunderkind.

She survived five set points in a dramatic climax to the first set of their semi-final as Hingis threatened to pursue the generational change she started in the fourth round when she beat Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.This time, though, experience triumphed over the exuberance of youth, and perhaps the women's tennis authorities will heave a sigh of relief that a 15-year-old will not be in a Grand Slam final. He led 6-3 in the third set tie-break with two serves to come, but a dazzling back-hand pass from Ivanisevic followed by a double fault by Sampras set up a dramatic tussle, which Ivanisevic eventually took 11-9.Sampras survived a break point midway through the fourth set as the match looked to have all the makings of going the distance, but a loose Ivanisevic service game at 3-4 let the champion back in, and he finished the match moments later.In the women's event, Graf's win over Martina Hingis sets up the tournament's dream final between her and Monica Seles. Two days off had got rid of any remnants of that draining experience, as he came out all guns blazing to beat Goran Ivanisevic 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.The direction was set in the first game, when Ivanisevic delivered three aces but still lost his serve. Despite 30 aces from the Croat in total, Sampras should have wrapped up the victory in three sets. The debate became a spat in Berlin a week ago when Johnson claimed the title "Nobody else can run 24mph," he said. "I think I can," Bailey responded, knowing that at one point during the Olympic final he had reached a top speed of 28mph.A Toronto promoter has now offered US$1.25m (pounds 825,000) for a match race between the two over 150m in the SkyDome next month.