Lewis's stylistic improvements under the trainer Emanuel Steward were once more in evidence, although put to a stringent test by a 7-1 underdog and former alcoholic. Yet he drew with the 35-year-old Mercer on one scorecard and beat him by only one and two rounds respectively on the others The hype backfired, big time. Lewis was viewed as the loser by most of the 17,000 crowd.But while his performance was not Strawberry Fields, neither was it Shangalang. If Lewis is to get his summer challenge to Mike Tyson, the World Council heavyweight champion, it will not be through American public demand. Lewis was booed from the Madison Square Garden arena after his debut here on Friday evening, having struggled to win a majority decision over the veteran Ray Mercer, who fought with a determination he has so often lacked.That Lewis, both eyes swollen by the end of 10 hard rounds, gritted his teeth and prevailed in the hardest fight of his career, cut no ice in the Big Apple.Lewis, 30, had been sold to New York as the complete heavyweight, a fighter capable of beating Tyson in two. Substitutes used: N Thompson (Old Loughtonians), H Hoskin (Reading).MALAYSIA: H Hamzah; Kerpal Singh; L Hassan, B Siva, C Lim; C Aziz, S Ramu Capt., K Muiandy; C Fernandez, K Shanmuganathan, M Lam. Substitutes used: N Kumar, Nor Saiful, V Iswarapatham, M Nawawi.Umpires: Y Platonov (Russia) and G Marsh (Australia).. Boxing Lennox Lewis's New York invasion, as one acerbic local columnist predicted it might, smacked more of the Bay City Rollers than the Beatles.

Howard Hoskin went close twice before the penalty stroke barrage.Korea also won a shoot-out, 4-2, to take the gold after a goalless draw with Australia. India beat the Dutch 4-2 for fifth place.GREAT BRITAIN: S Mason (Reading); J Wyatt (Reading), P McGuire (Teddington); G Fordham (Hounslow), Kalbir Takher (Cannock), Soma Singh (Southgate); C Mayer (Cannock), J Shaw (Southgate), R Thompson (Hounslow, capt), R Garcia (Polo Barcelona), D Hall (Guildford). She squandered this lead and was broken again for 3-5, Martinez serving her way into the record book ahead of Chris Evert and Margaret Court, both of whom won the title three times in a row.. Hockey Great Britain 2 Malaysia 2 (Malaysia win 4-3 on penalties) Great Britain twice came from behind against Malaysia yesterday in temperatures in the high 90s only to miss out on the bronze medal in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on a penalty stroke shoot-out.After Rob Thompson had equalised an early goal by Mun Fatt Lam, the Malaysians retook the lead controversially when Charil Aziz claimed that he had got a touch to a free hit from his captain, Shankar Ramu.Within a minute Britain had forced their second penalty corner, which was switched for Nick Thompson to score. When play resumed, she salvaged only one point on her serve before losing the set.A brief glimpse of the sun at the start of the second set encouraged Hingis, who broke in the opening game and stood at 40-0 in the second.

She was then helped by a downpour as Martinez attempted to serve out the set. The umpire allowed play to continue before suspending the match after Martinez had been broken to 5-2.The 20-minute delay gave Hingis an opportunity to assess where she was going wrong, but her initial response was disappointing. The design was in keeping with a weekend of thunderstorms, which delayed Saturday's semi-finals and yesterday's final.The 24-year-old Martinez, who had also recorded straight sets wins against Gabriela Sabatini, Martina Navratilova and Sanchez Vicario in the previous three finals, appeared to be neither worried nor wearied by the conditions.Hingis won only one point in each of the opening five games, a combination of tiredness - "I couldn't concentrate on every ball, which I needed to do" - and her opponent's superior shots, before managing to hold serve. It was Graf's first clay-court defeat since losing to Mary Pierce in the semi- finals of the French Open almost two years ago.Nor did Hingis waver afterwards, capitalising on her success by defeating the strong Romanian Irina Spirlea - the conqueror of Aranxta Sanchez Vicario - to become the youngest finalist in the history of the tournament, aged 15 years 71/2 months.The new Centre Court at the Foro Italico, which consists chiefly of Norwegian pine, bears a vague resemblance to an ark. Although Hingis had the good fortune to catch the Wimbledon champion on a day when her forehand was wayward and her mind seemed elsewhere, she did not miss the opportunity. On this occasion, however, Hingis at least managed to win more than one game.While there is no reason to offer consolation to Hingis, whose talent, given the benefit of hard work, is likely to be rewarded with a title soon enough, a splendid week on her first visit to Rome has raised her world ranking four places to No 16 and added $60,000 (pounds 40,000) to a growing bank balance.More than that, she leaves with the prize of a quarter-final victory against Steffi Graf, the world No 1. Just as in Hamburg last year, the Spaniard defeated the Czech-born Swiss prodigy in straight sets.