Wimbleson dark horse Mark Philippoussis staged a brilliant recovery to keep alive his hopes of reaching the semi-finals for the first time. The unseeded Australian, who has lost three quarter-finals in his injury-dogged career, looked to be heading for another last-eight exit when he lost the first two sets to Germany's Alexander Popp. But Philippoussis, who has come back from two sets down just three times in his career, had levelled at two sets each before a fourth rain interruption ended play for the day. The Aussie heavyweight had edged ahead 4-6 4-6 6-3 6-3 2-2 30-0 by then and will be firm favourite to see off the plucky German, who is happy to regard himself as half-British thanks to his Wolverhampton-born mother Jennifer, when the match resumes at noon today. It was Philippoussis who was earlier cursing the weather because he had just begun to force his way back into contention after a lacklustre start when the heavens opened for the first time. He took more than an hour to feel his way into a low-key quarter-final that hung in the shadow of Tim Henman's clash with Sebastien Grosjean on Centre Court. Court One was only a little over half full at the start and the players had to contend with the distractions of a noisy Henman Hill as well as the vagaries of the British weather. Philippoussis had produced 119 aces in his previous four matches, including 46 in his fourth-round win over second seed Andre Agassi, but his big first serve deserved him for much of the first two sets. His average dipped after finding only 16 aces in the first three sets, even though he got his serve up to 133mph. Popp, who beat number 11 seed Jiri Novak in straight sets in the third round, lost the third set and managed to gain a confidence-restoring win in the first game of the fourth set before the third rain interruption. But Philippoussis quickly settled back into his groove after a two-hour delay, winning his first two service games of the fourth set to love, and achieved the first break when Popp double-faulted for the seventh time. The Australian dropped just two points on his serve in the fourth set and, increasing in confidence with every game, quickly won it 6-3 to take the match into a decider. The momentum by then had clearly swung his way. | 
