Federer vs. Safin, Roddick vs. Hewitt in Masters Cup Semifinals Saturday
Posted on November 20, 2004
Hewitt, Safin Complete Masters Cup SemifinalsLleyton Hewitt (d. Gaston Gaudio 6-2, 6-1) and Marat Safin (d. Tim Henman 6-2, 7-6(2)) rounded out the semifinals Friday at the Masters Cup in Houston, joining world No. 1 Roger Federer and No. 2 Andy Roddick.
Hewitt, playing loose and near the top of his game since his separation with Kim Clijsters, at one point during his match chased down a drop shot, then ran down a lob on the next shot and smacked a winner, high-fiving spectators afterwards.
"That was a good point. I'm not even sure what happened," Hewitt said. "It took me six points to get my breath back. I guess I'm motivated at the moment. I like to play with a lot of emotion."
Andy Roddick topped 1,000 aces on the year with a 7-6(4), 6-3 win over Guillermo Coria.
"It was a little weird because I didn't know what Guillermo would bring to the table," said Roddick, who struggled to break the injury-addled Coria serve, which routinely fell under 100 mph. "But we are here at the Masters Cup but this was a little different feeling than the other matches."
Roddick will face Hewitt in the Saturday semifinals (Hewitt leads career meetings 3-1, while Roddick won their most recent this year at Queen's), with Federer against Safin (Fed leads 5-1, with the Russian getting his lone win in 2002).
"We're both pretty intense out there," Roddick said on facing Hewitt. "I'm going to be taking big blows, and Lleyton's going to be taking them and throwing them back at me. I would imagine it would be a pretty fun match to watch from a fan's perspective."
This is the first time that the top four seeds have reached the semifinals at the Masters Cup since 1990.
In the doubles semifinals the Bryan brothers upset world No. 1s Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor 6-2, 6-4, and in the final will face Zimbabwe's Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett who ousted Jonas Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge 6-4, 6-2.
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Emilio Sanchez is pulling from the year-end Masters Seniors event to aid the Spanish Davis Cup team, and will be replaced by Henri Leconte...Andy Roddick is the first player since Goran Ivanisevic in 1998 to hit over 1,000 aces on the year...Former ATP trainer and current Andy Roddick trainer Doug Spreen on A-Rod's fitness level, speaking to the New York Times: "He went back and worked his tail off in Austin for three weeks and got himself in great shape. If you talk to Andre Agassi, he's probably learned he can push harder than the last time. That's what Andy is finding. He can get himself in even better shape, and he knows now that if he ran a hill seven times, he can run it eight times. He did a lot of hill running. Austin is full of hills."