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Mark Philippoussis, returning to the site of his last tournament triumph, defeated Mikael Pernfors of Sweden 6-3, 6-4 Friday to advance into the semifinals of the $150,000 Hall of Fame Champions Cup at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Philippoussis will fac e fellow Australian Pat Cash, a 7-5, 6-4 winner Friday over Mats Wilander of Sweden in the quarterfinals. The Hall of Fame Champions Cup is the fifth of eight events on the 2009 Outback Champions Series, the global tennis circuit for champion tennis players age 30 and over.

Playing in his fourth career Outback Champions Series event, Philippoussis co-incidentally last captured a tournament title on the International Tennis Hall of Fame grounds back in 2006 when he won the ATP Tour's Campbell's Hall of Fame Championships, his 11th career ATP title.

"It feels nice to be back in Newport," said Philippoussis. "I had a great experience and a memorable week here in 2006. Everything feels so comfortable because it's absolutely gorgeous here. You can mill around. The town is very easy on the eyes. It's a great little tournament. You hit some balls, play matches, and it just feels very laid back and obviously winning here was even nicer."

Since his ATP win in Newport, Philippoussis, 32, has struggled with knee injuries that has kept him on and off the ATP Tour and the Outback Champions Series circuit. He last played against ATP level competition at the 2007 Hopman Cup mixed team event in Perth, Australia. Following knee surgery in early 2007, Philippoussis returned to competitive tournament tennis at the Outback Champions Series event in Dallas in 2007, losing the third-place match to John McEnroe. Earlier this year, he competed in Outback Champions Series events in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he finished with a 1-2 round-robin record, and in Grand Cayman, where he reached the semifinals losing to Jim Courier.

Nick-named "Scud" for his missile-like velocity of his first serve, the 2003 Wimbledon finalist and former world No. 8 struggled at times with his serve against Pernfors as a brisk breeze from the Atlantic Ocean descended upon the Hall of Fame complex. The Scud's deliveries, however, were enough to cause Pernfors to offer a "just get out of the way" defense of how you handle the Australian's rocket first serve.

"It was a good serve day except for that one game (at 4-3 in the second set) where I had like nine double faults and ten aces," said Philippoussis. "It kept him guessing."

Cash, the defending champion who beat Jim Courier in last year's final, rallied from a 1-4 first-set deficit against Wilander in a re-match of the 1988 Australian Open final, won by Wilander in five sets. Cash said he is looking forward to his match Saturday with Philippoussis, a player he coached during a short stint just over 10 years ago.

In the other men's semifinal Saturday, 2007 Hall of Fame Champions Cup winner Todd Martin will face Courier, the current No. 1 ranked player on the Outback Champions Series.

The matches on Friday were played 109 years to the day on the same court as the men's singles final of the 1900 U.S. Championships (the modern day U.S. Open) when Malcolm Whitman defeated fellow American Bill Larned 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Saturday, August 22nd - 1pm
Singles Semifinal - Martin vs. Courier
Followed by Doubles Exhibition
Followed by Singles Semifinal - Philippoussis vs. Cash winner

Sunday, August 23rd - 1pm
Championship Match