The Hindu : Sport : Hewitt takes the long road to semifinals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 27, 2005

Sport

Sport

Hewitt takes the long road to semifinals

By Nirmal Shekar

MELBOURNE, JAN. 26 . If Andy Roddick were a car, even Michael Schumacher would have trouble driving the vehicle. And the manufacturer would have gone bankrupt settling lawsuits claiming damages.

The second best player in men's tennis has one gear — overdrive. And you suspect that this is true both on and off the court. Even the tricky corners are negotiated at 225 kph, at full throttle, and there is scant evidence that the handsome American superstar has felt any need to avail of pit-stops.

The young man has so much energy — explosive, high-voltage stuff — that on a day like this, when he had to play less than three sets, you can imagine Roddick rushing back to the hotel, swapping his tennis shoes for running shoes, and competing with the Yarra trams on the undulating streets of Melbourne City.

But then, watching Roddick at work on a tennis court can be a captivating experience, even on a day such as Wednesday in the Centenary Australian Open when his Russian quarterfinal opponent, Nikolay Davydenko, huffed and puffed in the heat and mixed breathtaking winners with frustrating unforced errors before throwing in the towel midway in the third set.

Roddick, who went through to the semifinal with a 6-3, 7-5, 4-1 (retd.) victory, admitted that it had been a rather undemanding tournament so far for him. "It's been pretty smooth sailing so far," said the second seed. "I don't have many miles on me so far this tournament... that could end up being a good thing," said the American who will play the great home hope, Lleyton Hewitt, in the semifinals.

Having a lot left in the tank certainly may not be a bad thing. For, Roddick clearly remembers the last time he was in the semifinals here, in 2003. "The only other time I got this far at the Australian Open, I felt like I was about to fall over walking out to my semifinal match," said the charismatic American.

Even for a man who seems to be able to draw from an inexhaustible well of energy, the 2003 quarterfinal against Younes El Aynaoui was a punishing experience, which left Roddick drained. The American won that match 21-19 in the fifth set, which alone took two hours and 23 minutes to complete and is the longest decider played in Grand Slam history. But he found himself running on empty in the semifinal against Rainer Schuettler.

Today, against Davydenko, Roddick was mostly untroubled, finding the breaks in the eighth game of the first set and then in the 11th in the second even as the Russian, struggling in the heat, appearing short of breath and wearing an ice jacket during change-overs, once took medical time out to come to terms with the conditions.

But Roddick, emphatically undistracted by Davydenko's problems, hit whirlwind serves at great angles and controlled the tempo, splinting his baseline game with liberal doses of aggression.

If his gambling instincts have advanced his cause on tennis courts, then Roddick is not doing too badly either in his visits to the casino here. "I actually won five grand the other night. A total of 5600," said Roddick, talking about his fortunes at the blackjack table.

Bloody minded

His semifinal opponent is no gambler. Hewitt has fewer weapons to gamble with. His biggest strength is his bloody-mindedness. The man just won't give up. Against the ninth seeded Argentine David Nalbandian tonight, Hewitt raced through the first two sets but took his foot off the pedal and the man he beat in the 2002 Wimbledon final quickly drew level.

Then, in a fifth set that turned out to be a nerve-wracking, gut-wrenching affair, Hewitt broke Nalbandian's serve in the 17th game with a drive volley and then served out the match for a 6-3, 6-2, 1-6, 3-6, 10-8 victory in four hours and five minutes.

"I gave it everything I got and I am glad I came through," said an exhausted Hewitt after his second five-setter in a row. And the first Grand Slam event of the year will feature the top four seeds in the semifinals with Roddick going up against Hewitt and Roger Federer playing Marat Safin on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Lindsay Davenport, seeded No.1, needed to draw on her last bit of reserves to overcome the gritty Australian Alicia Molik, the 10th seed, 6-4, 4-6, 9-7 in two hours and 33 minutes, with a harsh sun relentlessly beating down on the Rod Laver Arena.

Molik, whose spectacular run of success here has catapulted her into the top 10 for the first time, capitalised on three double faults from Davenport in the 10th game of the second set to ease herself back into the match. And backed by a huge Australia Day crowd, the last home hope in the women's competition reeled off breathtaking winners on clutch points to raise visions of a major upset.

Serving for the match in the 10th game of the decider, Davenport saw Molik stave off a matchpoint with a forehand return winner and the top seed had to endure another half hour of torture in the burning cauldron before breaking to 8-7, fighting off two breakpoints in the next game, and serving out the match.

Davenport will play Nathalie Dechy of France in the semifinals. Dechy put her fighting qualities on display at the Margaret Court Arena as she outlasted Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, the 12th seed, 5-7, 6-1, 7-5.

Bhupathi, Woodbridge lose

India's Mahesh Bhupathi and Todd Woodbridge of Australia, champions in Sydney 10 days ago and the third seeds in the Centenary Australian Open, were beaten 7-6( 3) 6-3 by the fifth-seeded Zimbabwe pair of Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Bhupathi has been in bed for two days with a fever and he was still running temperature this morning when he took to the court. Yet, the third seeds had their chances and the outcome might have been different if they had held serve at 4-2 in the first set.

"Until last night I was not sure if I would play. But then we decided to go ahead. It was tough. Todd had to cover for me a lot and this upset his rhythm," said Bhupathi, who returns home for a two-week break.

The multiple Grand Slam doubles champion, whose company Globosport manages Sania Mirza, said that it was likely that the 18-year old path-breaking performer from Hyderabad would soon have a full-time coach accompanying her on the tour.

"Bob Brett has been good for her. And Bob is going to find a person to travel with Sania," said Bhupathi.

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