The Croat Goran Ivanisevic, who reached the quarter-finals in Melbourne before losing to Muster, will replace Chang as No 2. while Muster jumps to No 3.Martina Hingis collected her first winner's trophy at the Australian Open yesterday even before playing her singles final. The unseeded Spaniard has claimed two of the game's best players at the Australian Open, the defending champion Boris Becker in a first-round upset and then the second seed Michael Chang in the semi- finals.Sampras keeps the top ranking even if he is beaten tomorrow, but Becker will drop out of the top 10, having been ranked at No 6. Whether he wins or loses the final, Moya has earned a place in the world's top 10. Moya, ranked 25th and with just one singles title to his name at the start of the Melbourne event, will rise to the world No 6 spot if he beats the top seed Sampras, or No 9 if he loses.Moya's leap caps his rise through the rankings since 1994, when he finished the year ranked No 346. Others in the crowd warmed to the theme, earning laughs with "Play left-handed, Pete" and "Come on Pete, get serious".Sampras admitted afterwards that he could not have played better.

That's it."To underline the certainty of Sampras's victory, a spectator raised laughter by offering some encouragement to the world No 5 as Muster slumped to 1-4 in the third set "You can do it, Thomas!" he shouted. "He's going to be tough to beat." Even if Sampras defeats the 20-year-old Moya, his own career will not be crowned until he wins the French Open, the one Grand Slam title to have escaped him.Earlier, Sampras had left Muster gasping in their one-sided semi-final, which the American won in straight sets, 6-1, 7-6, 6-3. Sampras seemed incapable of mistakes as he stormed home in the final set. At one point several members of the packed crowd got to their feet and, arms outstretched, bent double as though in the presence of a tennis god. It was not until Sampras pulled off a near-miracle, hitting a reflex backhand winner around the net post, that a humbled Muster himself bowed down."That was complete luck," Sampras said "I just tried it and got away with it. "He beat Michael [Chang] pretty handily so he's very confident and he has nothing to lose and it will be a good fight," he said. Two years ago Sampras played and won a practice tie-break against Moya, who was then ranked in the 300s, at a tennis clinic in Barcelona "He's come a long way from the tie-break," Sampras said. But "Pistol Pete" is taking nothing for granted in tomorrow's final.

Only the unseeded Spaniard Carlos Moya, trounced two weeks ago in Sydney by Tim Henman, can stop Sampras's charge in Melbourne. Thomas Muster is not a man easily humbled, but even he is bowing in reverence to the world No 1 Pete Sampras as the American stands within one win of his second Melbourne title and ninth Grand Slam win. Meanwhile, Sheffield Wednesday, beaten at Charlton last year, have another hiding-to-nothing tie at the Third Division form team, Carlisle.. Nerve-ends will be jangling whenever Chris Waddle takes possession in the early stages.The heat is also on Harry Redknapp as West Ham - one win in 13 - resume hostilities with Wrexham for the dubious privilege of travelling to Peterborough.

Joe Royle's Everton have endured five consecutive losses, and with a visit to Newcastle looming on Wednesday the 1995 winners cannot allow Bradford City to leave unbeaten, as Stockport, Port Vale and York have in the past 12 months.Everton may point to five finals in 12 years but they have found the fifth round beyond them in four of the past five. For all Forest's improvement under Pearce, it is hard to see them enforcing a similar stalemate.Defeat today would intensify the pressure on two other managers. With both Gianfranco Zola and Steve McManaman likely to be man-marked, a single goal could once more prove decisive.The Premiership's newest managers, Kenny Dalglish and Stuart Pearce, tangle on Tyneside. Four months after leaving Aston Villa, Paul McGrath tackles them in Derby's colours. The 37-year-old McGrath may have to tame Dwight Yorke - who "worships him", according to Villa's manager, Brian Little - if the tie is not to be the Baseball Ground's last.While Villa have not won the Cup since 1957, their 40 years of hurt is nothing compared with Derby's wait, which is now into its 51st year although they did overcome today's visitors en route to the 1946 triumph.Precedent also gives Chelsea encouragement for tomorrow's heavyweight collision with Liverpool.

The 21-year-old, yet to start a Premiership game, faces a baptism of fire-power against Marcus Gayle and either Efan Ekoku or Dean Holdsworth.In the same position, if at the opposite end of the age spectrum, one of Ferguson's former betes noires is also in for an interesting time. Boro's 26 goals in six cup games suggest the traffic will be one-way, but history offers hope to both Hednesford and Woking, who face an equally arduous task away to a Coventry side 81 rungs above them.Six non-League clubs have put out opponents from the top flight, as Coventry, humbled at Sutton United in 1989, do not need reminding. In contrast, the part-timers will rely on a report by a council traffic engineer, Steve Griffiths. Boro's line-up bristles with foreign stars, with the latest capture, Gianluca Festa, costing pounds 2.7m from Internazionale.The scouting trip to Staffordshire was undertaken by Bryan Robson himself. Weather, of course, permitting. While the eventual winners are more likely to come from one of the weekend's four all-Premiership ties, in which six of the top seven are embroiled, the romance resides elsewhere. Despite the financial imperatives that forced Hednesford to forfeit home advantage against Middlesbrough, it remains a culture clash in the Cup's finest traditions.To say that the clubs are separated by 79 places tells only half the story. The fourth round also gets underway, although several ties must wait a further 10 days.