Huge Monarch butterflies, a long-range migrant, were feeding on the flowers outside the Arthur Ashe Stadium yesterday while inside, for the second year running, another long-distance traveller, Australia's Patrick Rafter, was proclaiming himself monarch of the US Open with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 victory over his fellow Australian Mark Philippoussis.
Rafter, the third seed and undoubted favourite, was immediately in the groove with his exemplary serve-and-volley game, which rarely wavered all fortnight, save for his opening five-set match against Morocco's Hicham Arazi, when he was two sets down.
Philippoussis, unseeded, had butterflies right enough but the 21-year-old, who defeated Tim Henman in the fourth round, has matured out of all recognition at these championships, tightening his game and concentrating on his undoubted strengths, namely a rasping first and second serve and mighty ground-strokes.
In the second set his nerve settled and his confidence burgeoned, with Rafter appearing tired, as well he might having played a five-set match against Pete Sampras the previous day. The third set was always likely to be crucial, given the insane scheduling here, with both semis played on Saturday.
Rafter, not one for emotional outbursts, slung his racket to the ground when, at 2-2, he let a 40-0 lead slip. Crucially he held and then won a vital point on the Philippoussis serve, clipping the net with his final volley winner after the most athletic of rallies. Philippoussis then half-volleyed into the net, and Rafter was clear at 4-2. He never looked back.
Sampras's challenge for a record-equalling 12th Grand Slam ended when he was beaten 6-7, 64, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 by Rafter. A thigh strain suffered in the sixth game of the third set left the world's number one needing more shovels to get him out of a hole than Bill Clinton's lawyers.
With Roy Emerson's record on the line, the many Australians present were understandably ebullient, although Emerson conceded that Sampras, still only 27-years old, still had plenty of time to beat his record. Others are not so sure.
The gigantic poster which for the past couple of weeks has dominated the entry to the toll-free Queensboro bridge, one of the main routes out of Manhattan and across the river to Flushing Meadow, is of Venus Williams.
Her huge smile is three lanes wide, and the clatter of her white hair beads almost audible. It was Venus most Americans believed would embrace the US Open trophy on Saturday, but instead of a precocious Californian 18-yearold raising her arms like a boxer, it turned out to be the charmingly modest Californian 22-year-old, Lindsay Davenport.
"Nobody ever told me I was going to be great, but I think I have just maximised everything I've had, and always tried harder," said Davenport, whose thrill at winning her first Grand Slam, after defeating Martina Hingis 6-3 7-5, was heart-warming, particularly when compared to the calculated merchandising and overt self-promotion of Venus and Serena Williams.
The joie de vivre has been missing from Hingis's play since the spring. "You have to be aggressive to beat Martina and overpower her," said Davenport, who is now within a few points of knocking Hingis off the number one spot which she has held for 76 weeks. Hingis gained a measure of revenge as she joined forces with Jana Novotna to win the women's doubles title. Hingis and Novotna beat Davenport and Natasha Zvereva 6-3, 6-3.
