'Spice Girls' win over Australian crowd

The Australian Open promoters' dream duo -- Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova -- overcame an early hiccup on Thursday to storm into the women's doubles final beating top seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs 6-7, 6-1, 6-0.

Never mind that they were playing a team that was one half Australian -- Stubbs hails from Sydney -- the Melbourne crowd were delighted with the so-called Spice Girls' success.

The 1999 champions will face Slovak Daniela Hantuchova and Spanish veteran Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in Friday's final, and history suggests that the outcome of that match could be an omen for Saturday's singles final.

Three times singles champion Hingis has won the singles crown each year she has won the doubles and has never won the doubles in a year she has failed to win the singles.

The Swiss successfully teamed up with Natasha Zvereva in 1997, Mirjana Lucic in 1998 before forging the dream team with Kournikova and lifting the Australian crown in '99.

Earlier on Thursday Hingis reached the singles final with a hard-fought victory over Monica Seles to keep the double dream alive.

BIZARRE INCIDENT

Back in tandem after a well-publicised split late in 2000, Hingis and Kournikova, seeded eighth here, underlined there is substance behind their partnership by beating the top seeds comprehensively.

In the men's doubles Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro beat fellow Frenchmen Arnaud Clement and Julien Boutter in a marathon semifinal 6-3, 3-6, 12-10, but the match will stay in the memory not for the scoreline but for a bizarre incident during the contest.

Michael Llodra's powerful forehand proved literally lethal when it struck a swallow flying across the court in pursuit of a moth.

The force of the shot left the bird with no chance. Killed instantly, it dropped like a stone to the Rebound Ace court.

Boutter reacted first, throwing down his racket and racing over to where the bird lay, hoping for a miracle, but he was too late, so he fell to his knees, crossed himself and delivered the last rites.

"Don't ask me...he did it," Santoro quipped, quick to pass the blame when asked about the incident.

But Llodra had a philosophical retort: "At least I saved the moth."

The French pairing will face either second seeds Don Johnson and Jared Palmer or Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor, seeded ninth in the final.