Roddick takes marathon route to semis
He goes distance in beating Hewitt
WIMBLEDON, England - Great Britain exulted under sweltering skies yesterday as Andy Murray continued his march toward a Wimbledon championship, sailing into the semifinals with relative ease.
But it was the battle for the chance to deny the young Scot his coveted spot in Sunday’s final that provided the most gripping entertainment at the All England club, where American Andy Roddick, the sixth seed, unleashed 43 aces in turning back a gritty challenge from Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt, 6-3, 6-7 (10-12), 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-4.
The match lasted 3 hours 50 minutes and included wild swings of momentum, artful shot-making, ill-timed gaffes, and a verbal sparring match between Roddick and chair umpire Carlos Ramos. And it was fraught with tension throughout, pitting Wimbledon’s 2002 champion (Hewitt) against a two-time Wimbledon finalist (Roddick) - each a former world No. 1, and each trying to reassert his relevance among the elite of tennis.
“I hadn’t been in the Grand Slam picture much in the last two years,’’ said Roddick, 26, who will take on the third-seeded Murray and his legion of supporters tomorrow. “It’s my second semifinal of the year right now. I’m thrilled.’’
Earlier in the day, five-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer breezed to his 21st consecutive Grand Slam semifinal by subduing the hard-serving Ivo Karlovic, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3).
Federer is bidding for a record 15th Grand Slam title. But the Swiss has one unlikely hurdle to clear before reaching Sunday’s final: Germany’s Tommy Haas, 31, who played well above his 34th ranking in toppling fourth-seed Novak Djokovic, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-3.
Haas nearly played the spoiler last month in Federer’s successful bid to win the one major title that had eluded him, the French Open, nearly derailing the Swiss after taking a two-sets-to-none lead on the Parisian clay.
But Federer is regarded as peerless on Wimbledon’s grass - particularly without defending Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal in the field.
A British man has not won Wimbledon’s singles title since 1936. And Murray, who desperately seeks to snap that drought, has been sporting a classic white outfit tailored in homage to the venerable champion of long ago, Fred Perry, since the 2009 tournament opened.
With each round he conquers, the 22-year-old Murray is fast becoming a legend throughout Great Britain. He earned his spot in the semifinals yesterday with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Spanish wild card Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Federer, meantime, embellished his already sterling résumé by handily dismissing the 6-foot-10-inch Karlovic, often referred to as the Croat Alp, whose serve hadn’t been broken through four rounds of play. Federer did so in less than 20 minutes, breaking in the fourth game of the opening set to send a message, in case it had been lost on anyone, that he boasts skills unlike any player in the game.
Asked to dissect Federer’s ability to blunt his maddening serve, Karlovic said simply: “It is only because he is better than everybody else. That’s it.’’
It was a match of quick points, most of them settled by aces or service winners.
What a welcome contrast, then, was the slugfest between Roddick and Hewitt.
It pitted one of the game’s best servers (Roddick) against one of its cagiest returners (Hewitt). And the result - despite Roddick’s 43 aces - was often high quality rallies that showcased the players’ respective skills.
Hewitt, 28, boasts the more varied game, and he wisely mixed up the tempo and pace to keep Roddick from settling into a groove.
Roddick had essentially one weapon, his booming serve, but time and again it extricated him from trouble of his own making - impetuous forays to the net and impatient groundstrokes.
Roddick was off to a commanding start after winning the opening set and taking a 5-2 lead in the second-set tiebreak. But Hewitt reeled off three successive points and hung tough, while Roddick flubbed three successive forehands to give the set away.
Roddick rebounded to win the third set with a masterful tiebreak and bolted to a 2-0 lead in the fourth set.
Again Hewitt refused to fold despite obvious discomfort in his left leg. A raucous contingent of Aussies cheered him on, easily drowning out Roddick’s more modest rooting section. And even Brits without a rooting interest urged Hewitt on in his battle to pull even at two sets apiece. The longer the match went, the more exhausted it would leave the victor for tomorrow’s semifinal against Murray.
With their help, Hewitt stormed back to force a fifth set.
And Roddick briefly lost his composure, squawking about a suspect line call and spraying groundstrokes both wide and long of the mark.
With the score knotted at four games each, Roddick finally broke Hewitt’s serve with a forehand passing shot. And from there, he served out the match.
Looking forward to meeting Murray, Roddick conceded he could probably count the number of fans he’d have walking onto Centre Court on one hand. But he vowed to revel in the electricity regardless, having waited since 2005 to reach Wimbledon’s semifinals again.
“I’m just going to pretend when they say, ‘C’mon Andy!’ that they mean me,’’ Roddick said with a smile. 