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Kuerten secures finals berth vs. Hewitt Posted: Saturday March 15, 2003 11:11 PMUpdated: Sunday March 16, 2003 3:24 PM INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) -- Lleyton Hewitt played cautiously in the first set and took complete control in the second, beating qualifier Vince Spadea 7-6 (5), 6-1 Saturday to reach the Pacific Life Open final. The second semifinal, between Gustavo Kuerten and Rainer Schuettler, was suspended by rain Saturday with Kuerten leading 6-2 0-1,. When play resumed Sunday, Kuerten edged 15th-seeded Schuettler 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to reach the final. Germany's Schuettler jumped on Kuerten when the two took the court at noon EST Sunday, breaking the Brazilian for 3-1 with a backhand winner down the line. Schuettler won the second set with a forehand winner, but Kuerten woke up in the third set, fighting off a break point in the opening game with a backhand volley crosscourt. Kuerten then broke the German for 2-0 when Schuettler pushed a half volley wide. Schuettler could not penetrate the Brazilian's service games after that and Kuerten came up with numerous brilliant shots, including a forehand winner with his back turned after he had been forced to run backward from the net to retrieve a Schuettler forehand. Kuerten won the contest on his third match point with an outright return of serve winner. Kuerten became the first man to reach all four North American finals of the Tennis Masters Series, which include Miami (2000 runner-up), Canada (1997runner-up) and Cincinnati (2001 champion). Hewitt will play the Kuerten in the men's championship match scheduled to begin about 3 p.m. EST Sunday. The top-ranked Hewitt is coming off a victory last weekend at Scottsdale, Ariz., and also is the defending champion at Indian Wells. The 28-year-old Spadea, who has made only two finals and hasn't won a title since turning pro 10 years ago, played Hewitt tough in the first set but eventually buckled. Appearing in his first Tennis Masters Series semifinal, Spadea holds the dubious distinction of the tour's longest losing streak -- 21 consecutive defeats stretching from 1999 to 2000. He made it to the Indian Wells semifinal by beating another qualifier, Brian Vahaly, 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Hewitt -- the 2001 U.S. Open champion and last year's Wimbledon winner -- fell behind Spadea 4-1 in the first set, but came back to break Spadea's service and catch him at 4-4. Both players spent most of their first set at the baseline, with many points decided when one or the other hit the ball into the net or out. Hewitt made 22 unforced errors and hit only 15 winners in the opening set, and Spadea had 16 unforced errors and 13 winners. There was a gusting breeze during most of the match. "The big key was winning the breaker," Hewitt said. "After I won that, I felt like I was adapting to the conditions as well as to his game a lot better. I hadn't seen him play for a couple of years." He had one double fault in the tiebreaker, but Spadea had two. With the crowd chanting, "Vinnie! Vinnie!" after he won two points on Hewitt's serve to close within 6-5, Spadea hit his second serve into the net to lose the final point. "I was hoping he'd do that," Hewitt said. "That was a good way to shut them up. I didn't have to do anything." Spadea said the double fault to end the tiebreaker didn't get him down. "It didn't weigh on my mind too heavily," he said. "I just ran out of gas a little bit, and he upped his level slightly.
"My serve kind of deserted me and that hurt me a lot because it put pressure on me to play long rallies. It's difficult to beat him every point doing that, especially when he's getting free points on his serve."
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