| Hewitt Among the Final Four In a five-set battle, Lleyton Hewitt eliminated Andy Roddick to move through to the semifinals. While Wednesday evening showcased a classic battle between two champions, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, Thursday evening provided tennis fans with the opportunity to see two future champions to do battle, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick. In a match-up that will surely be repeated in years to come, Australia's Hewitt defeated the American Roddick 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, to set up a meeting with Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the semifinals. "He's a great player and what he's done in the last six to eight months has been unbelievable," Hewitt said of Roddick. "I just felt like I was seeing the ball well, and I've been feeling better and better with each match. "Yevgeny is a great player and he plays even better in Grand Slams, I'm going to have my work cut out for me." With 20-year-old Hewitt attempting to reach his second consecutive US Open semifinal, and 19-year-old Roddick in the midst of his best Grand Slam performance to date, the two youngsters took the court to determine who will become one of the remaining four men in the tournament. The No. 4 seed Hewitt had gone into the match having won the two previous meetings between the pair, but Roddick showed no fear going into the quarterfinal match. With both players wearing their backward caps, Roddick took control of the match by winning the first set in a hard fought tie-break. The American continued to showcase the serve that helped him to advance this far in the tournament, consistently serving over 130 mph. But his opponent has one of the most consistent returns in the game, which helped Hewitt to capture the next two sets. Roddick showed that he was not ready to give up, and broke the Australian early in the fourth set, eventually serving out the set taking the match to the distance. At 4-5 in the final set, with Roddick serving to stay in the match, Hewitt was able to break the young American's serve to win the match. "Lleyton is a great competitor, he was too good for me tonight," Roddick said. "We've had some great matches, hopefully I'll be able to get it one of these times. I have a lot to improve, I'm going to get back to the drawing board and I can't wait for Davis Cup in a couple weeks." |