The Hindu : Sport : Federer and Hewitt in semifinals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 30, 2005

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Sport

Federer and Hewitt in semifinals

Nirmal Shekar

— Photo: AP

London: It was an unexpected invasion, less likely to succeed than the famous Spanish Armada that set sail to conquer these islands in the summer of 1588. But the latest Hispanic La Armada Grande manned by caramel-tanned, bandanna sporting rebels attired in tennis shorts and wielding graphite racquets has surely created a sensation in these parts.

After all, Spanish — and Spanish-speaking — tennis players who fancy their chances towards the business end of the world's premier grass court championships are as rare as banana plantations in Kent. For, this is a breed that normally books holidays to coincide with the Wimbledon championships.

But, as with all evanescent novelties, the shelf-life — of the unlikely invaders — has turned out to be rather limited, no matter that the dashing Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Gonzalez — the first men from Spain and Chile to figure in the men's quarterfinals here since...well, since before Roger Federer was born — did play their parts almost as well as they might have been expected to on Wednesday.

Gonzalez, armed with a serve that might cause nightmares to all but the finest of returners, and a forehand that would have journeymen opponents waking up at night breaking into a cold sweat, still found himself unable to win a solitary set against Mr. Perfect — the defending champion Roger Federer — while the left-handed Lopez bravely hung in confidently against the greatest scrambler-cum-fighter in modern tennis — Lleyton Hewitt — before coming apart when it counted in each of the three sets.

As it turned out, Federer, who made a miserly contribution of 10 unforced errors to aid Gonzalez's dwindling fortunes, won 7-5, 6-2, 7-6(2) in an hour and 50 minutes and was joined nine minutes later by Hewitt, who, for his part, put in 12 unforced errors in Lopez's kitty — and each one of them with a nasty scowl — before going through 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(2).

Rewarding fortnight

No matter all that, it has been a wonderfully rewarding fortnight for the two Spanish speaking men who, like the brave ones on that ill-advised voyage ordered by Spain's King Philip 417 years ago against Britain's Queen Elizabeth I, were prepared to live and die by their swords. Adios amigos. Hasta la vista.

In the event, on Friday, we will witness a final-before-the-final, the Irresistible Force versus the Immovable Object. Last year, Federer beat Hewitt in four sets in the quarterfinals here but the Australian hopes to reverse that result a round later this time.

"The last time I made the semifinals here, I won the tournament (2002),'' said Hewitt, seeded three. "Hopefully it is a good omen. He (Federer) is the world No.1 and it is going to be tough. It's like a final for me.''

Hewitt, of course, will need the mother of all good omens, and its great-grandfather, so to say, when he goes out on court against the world champion on Friday. For, no rational person might want to try and match Federer on a grass court. Whatever level you manage to raise yourself, you will find out that the Swiss sorcerer still plays a notch or two higher. You someone climb to the Everest of court performance, and you will still need to look up to see Federer walking in space several metres above you, mocking at you from God's own country up above.

"I thought I did really well,'' said the champion. "I have been relying on my defensive game as well, because I don't only have to attack all the time. It gives me sort of two options. I always thought I was good at it. Today, I had to prove it one more time.''

Superb defence

The proof came in rather spectacular fashion, as it were. Often pushed to the corners by the hard-hitting Chilean, Federer defended superbly before coming up with the shots that mattered. Some of these were the sort of how-about-that-mate shots which clearly contributed to breaking the opponent's will and the most important of them in the early going came in the 12th game of the first set.

On Gonzalez's serve in the 12th game, Federer earned himself a setpoint, lost it and then found himself almost stranded on the baseline as the talented Chilean hit a drop volley. Like a leopard that's not had a decent kill in a fortnight, Federer sprinted all the way up and magically scooped up a crosscourt winner.

That's when the surrender terms were agreed upon.

Then again, when the Swiss master found out that the Chilean was not abiding by the agreement, in the third set, it was time, yet again, to get the cannon going. The top seed staved off a breakpoint in the ninth game and then outplayed Gonzalez in the tiebreak.

"Now against Lleyton, I am looking forward to it,'' said Federer after his 34th successive victory on grass. "I think it is a tough match ahead for me.''

If Hewitt plays the way he did on Wednesday, Federer's words might come true. The Australian served the best he has so far, hardly giving Lopez any chances on serve, and returned superbly in critical moments to blow away the challenge presented by the Spanish left-hander.

Lopez, for his part, turned jelly just when he needed to steel himself. In both the first and second sets, when serving to stay in the set, the Spaniard choked. Three successive errors in the 12th game of the first and 10th of the second were disastrous for Lopez and Hewitt was more than halfway to the locker-room.

Asked how Hewitt might fare against Federer, Lopez said, "For sure he will get a chance. But Roger is another level. He is not me.''

Bhupathi-Pierce advance

Mahesh Bhupathi and Mary Pierce of France, who were driven into the locker room by rain on Tuesday evening shortly after the start of their third round mixed doubles match, revelled in the sunshine on Wednesday to post a 6-3, 7-6(5) victory over Martin Garcia of Argentina and Mara Santangelo of Italy to make the quarterfinals.

Pierce, who has time and again said that she has been having a great time playing with the Indian doubles specialist, combined very well with Bhupathi as both played the big points with tremendous confidence.

But Leander Paes's campaign came to an end in the men's doubles event. Paes and his partner Nenad Zimonjic, seeded five, lost a close match in straight sets to the fourth seeded Zimbabweans Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett, who won the quarterfinal tie 7-5, 7-6(8), 7-6(8).

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