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All square Hewitt rallies after Rafter sinks in Davis semi
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt rescued Australia's Davis Cup campaign Friday with a fighting win over Jonas Bjorkman after Thomas Johansson upset Pat Rafter in five sets to give Sweden a 1-0 lead in the semifinal. The Swedes got an unexpected start when Johansson rallied from two sets down to beat Rafter, a dual U.S. Open titlist and twice runner-up at Wimbledon, 3-6, 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 in three hours, 42 minutes. In his first match since winning a maiden Grand Slam title, Hewitt dropped a set but recovered to win 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2) in a match that lasted three hours and 37 minutes and finished under floodlights at Sydney's International Tennis Center. Bjorkman, the world's top-ranked doubles player, is expected to team up with Magnus Larsson in Saturday's vital doubles encounter in a bid to break the 1-1 deadlock. He's also scheduled to line up again Sunday in the reverse singles. Opposing him Saturday could be his tour doubles partner Todd Woodbridge, who was named with Wayne Arthurs in Australia's doubles combination. However, Australian captain John Fitzgerald has until an hour before the match to change his doubles team if he thinks Hewitt or Rafter are better suited to the conditions. Likewise, Swedish captain Carl-Axel Hageskog could use a fresh Thomas Enqvist, a surprise exclusion from the opening singles matches, in Sunday's decisive reverse singles. Hageskog said Australia's strengths were with No. 3-ranked Hewitt and No. 4-ranked Rafter, while Sweden's strength was depth in the squad. "Sometimes it's better to have four hungry wolves instead of two lions," he said. Johansson went for broke after the first two sets, nullifying Rafter's serve and volley tactics with some pinpoint lobs and unleashing some explosive backhand return winners and passing shots. Hewitt took 10 games to warm up but gradually grew in confidence over the next three sets, clinching the last tiebreaker with four match points to spare after racing to a 6-2 lead on two cracking forehand returns and a cross-court forehand winner. Having the bulk of a capacity 10,400 crowd behind him helped inspire Hewitt, particularly after facing a cauldron at New York earlier this month in his final against Pete Sampras and after his rescue effort in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Brazil. "I felt a little bit flat at the start but the crowd really got me into it and the emotion helped," said Hewitt. "It's pretty hard when you win a Slam to come out so soon and try to play such a big event -- I just tried to find any way to win out there tonight." Hewitt said Johansson's win had given the Swedish team a boost and "to come through and be 1-1 after a day like that ... we should be happy." Bjorkman said Sweden's first-up win proved that the Australian public had erred by writing off the Swedes as contenders and planning too early to host the November finale. "We thought it was not enough respect for players who have been around for so long ... but definitely helped us to get more motivation," he said. "We gave everyone something to watch out for for the rest of the tie." Johansson, Sweden's top-ranked singles player at No. 18, stunned the parochial crowd with his comeback. "For sure, this was my best win so far ... to come back after two sets to love, especially against Pat," he said. "I was surprised myself." Rafter said he "went to sleep" after the first two sets and "it was a really bad error on my behalf." "I knew what was going on but I couldn't get out of that negative rut," he added. "I became flat and predictable ... everything came into his hitting zone and he made me pay for it." Fitzgerald said Hewitt's win was a massive relief. "It was tight there. Halfway through the third we were down a match and we were in a dogfight in the second match," he said. "We were hoping we might be able to win both of those two singles ... (but) I think 1-1 is a fair result after the first day." In their respective quarterfinals, Australia beat Brazil 3-1 at Brazil and Sweden defeated Russia 4-1 at Malmo. Australia also trailed 0-1 at Brazil after Rafter retired in the fourth set of his opening match against No. 1-ranked Gustavo Kuerten. But Hewitt beat Fernando Meligeni in straight sets, then teamed up with Rafter to win the doubles 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 before upsetting Kuerten in the reverse singles to clinch the semifinals berth. Australia is 5-2 in Davis Cup head-to-heads against Sweden. The winner of this semifinal will host the decider in November against the winner of the France vs. Netherlands semifinal, which also starts Friday at Rotterdam. The Australians won the Davis Cup in 1999 and were runners-up to Spain last year.
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