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Only Mark Philippoussis' love life is rivalling the Hewitt-Clijsters split for newspaper space down under. According to several newspaper reports, Philippoussis has ended his relationship with singer Delta Goodrem and turned to American hotel heiress Paris Hilton after the pair were apparently set up by former Neighbours star Holly Valance. Hilton was even said to have claimed she was "head over heels in love" with the one-time Wimbledon finalist.

With Philippoussis under fire for dumping Goodrem, his mother stepped in to defend her 27-year-old son. "Mark was number nine in the world 10 months ago and now he's 106," she told Australia's Channel 7. "He wants to put his life back into tennis. With a relationship, he can't do that. "I don't have nothing bad to say about my son. He did nothing wrong. That's his private life."

Meanwhile, Hilton has moved to distance herself from the reports. "The message from Paris was 'What is this all about?" It was probably just some throwaway comment," said her publicist Richard Squire. And Sydney radio personality Alan Jones, a close friend of Philippoussis, told listeners to his show that the story was "ludicrous". Goodrem is currently in the UK to promote her new single 'Out of the Blue' - which was apparently written with Philippoussis in mind.

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-- Edited by NineEighteen at 15:36, 2004-11-01