Hamburg is target for Graf's return: Tennis

Steffi Graf, who will lose her world No 1 ranking to Martina Hingis on 31 March after a total of 377 weeks at the top, is hoping to make a comeback at the end of April in the German Open in Hamburg.

Graf, who has been out of action for more than a month, is to undergo an examination on her injured knee in the next few days.

The 27-year-old Graf has not played since the semi-finals of the Tokyo tournament on 1 February. She has trained a little since then, but doctors have told her not to do anything too strenuous or put too much strain on her knee.

Mark Philippoussis, the 20-year-old Australian who won the ATP tournament in Scottsdale on Sunday, was yesterday selected for the Davis Cup squad to play the Czech Republic.

Philippoussis returns to the team after missing the Australian Open and the Davis Cup first-round tie against France due to tendinitis in his right arm.

He joins Patrick Rafter, Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde for the quarter- final against the Czech Republic in Adelaide from 4 to 6 April.

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, playing in her first tournament under her new coach, her eldest brother, Emilio, advanced to the quarter-finals of the Evert Cup in Indian Wells, California.

Sanchez Vicario, the top seed, who has not won a tournament since Hamburg last May, easily beat Asa Carlsson, of Sweden, 6-1, 6-3. However the third- seeded Anke Huber lost 6-4, 6-3 to Nathalie Tauziat, the 13th seed from France.

In the quarter-finals Sanchez Vicario will meet Sandrine Testud of France in one quarter-final, while Tauziat takes on the sixth seed, Irina Spirlea of Romania.