 |
| |
|
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
EVENTS
CENTERS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|
 |
The journey continues Sampras leads intriguing group of men's semifinalists
Updated: Friday September 07, 2001 10:32 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- After consecutive nights of riveting tennis -- and a couple afternoons with much less drama -- the men's title match at the U.S. Open will be set from a pair of intriguing semifinals. Pete Sampras continues his unexpected push for a 14th Grand Slam titles when he meets defending champion Marat Safin on Saturday, and Lleyton Hewitt aims for his first Slam final against Yevgeny Kafelnikov. The Open has provided some scintillating tennis moments over the last two weeks, none more so than the matches Sampras and Hewitt won on two late nights on center court. First, there was a battle of old masters, the 10th-seeded Sampras surviving a classic four sets -- each decided in a tiebreak -- against No. 2 Andre Agassi. Then came the Generation X showdown, with the fourth-seeded Hewitt beating No. 18 Andy Roddick in five sets. Each match lasted more than three hours, each ended well past midnight and provided great theater. Meanwhile, in the afternoon sun, the Russians advanced with less pulsating straight-sets victories.
Hewitt's victory over Roddick was almost a mirror of Sampras' 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) victory over Agassi the previous night -- a couple of tennis heavyweights trading shot for shot. But while Sampras took advantage of a pair of unforced errors by Agassi in the final tiebreaker, Hewitt was helped by an overrule by the chair umpire at the start of the final game. With Hewitt up 5-4 in the fifth set, umpire Jorge Diaz called a shot by Roddick along the far sideline out. That triggered a temper tantrum by the 19-year-old American. He slammed his racket, furious that 3 1/2 hours of hard work would be extinguished that way, and called Diaz a "moron." "It's unfortunate that I blew up and it ended the way it did," Roddick said. "It's pretty disheartening when you fight for that long and something like that happens. You just feel like someone reaches inside you and just takes something." Hewitt, a semifinalist last year as well, wasn't offering any sympathy. "I've had overrules," he said. "It happens. You can't say someone can't overrule because of what stage of the match it's in. It's up to the umpire. He can't be biased and say, 'It's a tight match. I can't call this one.' He obviously thought the ball was out." Roddick remained convinced it was in. "I think that was an absolutely pathetic call," he said. "No umpire in their right mind will ever make that call." Roddick never recovered and lost 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. For Hewitt, it was one more hurdle in a two-week Open adventure. There was the racial controversy over remarks he made in a match against American James Blake, then a rain delay of his match with Tommy Haas after he lost the first set and now the Roddick classic. Next for him is Kafelnikov, who brought down Kuerten 6-4, 6-0, 6-3. "The key was winning the first set," the Russian said. "Once I did that, I knew at least I was going to be [there] a little bit longer than in the previous matches. He wasn't going to dominate me like he did in the French Open." Kuerten has beaten Kafelnikov three times in quarterfinals at Roland Garros and each time went on to win the title there. This time Kafelnikov seized control of the match, winning 11 straight games over one stretch. "For every question he made to me, I had an answer," Kafelnikov said. "That's something I'm proud of." Safin, who beat Zabaleta 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, is the third straight former Open champion that Sampras has faced, after Patrick Rafter and Agassi. A year ago, he beat Sampras in straight sets for the title. "I have to forget last year," Safin said. "Last year doesn't exist. Last year was ridiculous. I played too good and I cannot play this game never again. It's impossible. It's too good. "I have to find some other way to beat him. I have to try to hold well, try to hold his serve, try to be solid from the baseline." The advance of Safin and Kafelnikov marks the first time two Russians are in the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament. The men's semifinals will be followed by the women's championship match, to be played at night for the first time.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
