Hewitt, Safin Join Roddick, Federer in Dream Masters Cup Semifinals

Posted on November 20, 2004

Lleyton 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.