Kuerten, Hewitt advance with contrasting wins

Kuerten, Hewitt advance with contrasting wins

Rome, May 13: Defending champion Gustavo Kuerten and Aussie teenager Lleyton Hewitt both reached the Rome Masters Series semi-finals here on Friday, but the two men took very different routes on the centre court.

Kuerten emerged after a scrappy performance in his night match. Though broken twice, the fourth seeded Brazilian always seemed to be in control of the match and was able to break back at will.

He proved it in the 10th game - although Costa was unlucky to lose the set on a net cord, as Kuerten's shot plopped over the Spaniard's side.

And he showed it again in the 12th game of the next set,bringing up match point when he finished a rally with a crunching forehand which Costa scampered for but was never going to reach. Kuerten saved his best shot for last, sprinting forward to tip the ball elegantly over the net after Costa tried a drop shot.

``I made more mistakes than in my other match, Kuerten said. But I really played well when I needed to. I think that was the key to the match today''. Hewitt's victory was all the more remarkable for three reasons - he is back on court this week after a month's absence due to a virus, he' s a relative novice on clay and he was playing doubles until midnight the previous night.

Hewitt, the winner of three tournaments this year, said ``The attitude going into this season was just to gain experience. I don't think I've mastered clay court tennis just yet. But I think I've definitely taken a big step this week''.

Hewitt lost to Norman in the Australian Open fourth round in January and is wary of repeating his mistake.

``In Australia, I let him get away. He got his confidence going, he served huge and he hit a lot of big ground strokes as well... you can't take him lightly at all.''

Norman, speaking before Hewitt's match, had no preference over his opponent.

``It doesn't matter who I'm Playing, you know,'' he said. ``I just try to concentrate on my own things. If those things are clicking, no-one can beat me.''

On Friday, there was no beating an Adelaide teenager who needed just 13 minutes to reach 4-1.

Facing serve at 3-5, Puerta tried to put the pressure on Hewitt by racing to the net for the opening point. Hewitt watched him move and calmly steered a passing shot into the corner.

He then reeled off three points to reach 40-0 with an ace, and hit a service winner to lead 1-0.

Puerta found another gear in the second set, but Hewitt showed a remarkable ability all afternoon to find a winner just when he needed it.

Puerta earned the first of two break-points in the second game with a glorious drop shot. Hewitt hit back with a heart-stopping forehand from the back court into the right-hand corner. Puerta quickly brought up another chance but Hewitt drilled down an ace.

Hewitt came unstuck though next time around and, at 3-1 down, had three chances to break back. But Puerta coped with them all and won applause from the centre court crowd - and even from Hewitt- as he dived at full length to win a point.

The Argentinian finished in a heap and needed time out to treat an injury to the little finger of his left hand. But it didn't stop the left-hander serving out for 4-1, and later for 5-2 as his opponent kept finding the net.

Hewitt appeared to be heading out of the tournament, but it proved to be deceptive. The Aussie conjured up his first-set form for the third - breaking for 2-0 with a superb pick-up to Puerta's drop shot.

He served out for 3-0 and 4-1, and wrapped up the tie with an ace and a cry of ``Yes!''

Corretja, who won here in 1997 and has already won a Masters Series event this year at Indian Wells, was in unstoppable form - serving to perfection and using his backhand to lethal effect - as he ousted Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty 6-1, 7-6 (7/5).

Agassi withdraws

HAMBURG: World number one Andre Agassi of the United States joined a growing list of absentees from next week's $2.95 million Hamburg Masters Series tournament on Saturday.

Agassi did not give organisers any reason for his decision to pull out of the event, one of the major warm-up events for the French Open - which begins at Roland Garros on May 29.

The American was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia in the third round of this week's Rome Masters Series event.

Former world number one Pete Sampras is now the top seed for the Hamburg event as the ATP Tour's much-vaunted Masters Series events continue to fail in their aim to attract all the top names.

German star Nicolas Kiefer and Britain's Greg Rusedski will be other absentees on the Hamburg red clay.

Sampras will open against fellow American Chris Woodruff, while defending champion Marcelo Rios of Chile will play Frenchman Nicolas Escude.

Testud lets Hingis escape

BERLIN: Switzerland's womens' tennis world number one Martina Hingis was stretched to the limit by Frenchwoman Sandrine Testud before edging through to the semi-finals of the German Open here.

The 19-year-old, who regained the number one spot off American nemesis Lindsay Davenport last weekend in Hamburg, took two hours 35 minutes to beat the French number five seed 7-5 5-7 6-2 and will now play third seed Conchita Martinez of Spain, who ended the run of Gala Leon Garcia with a 6-4 6-2 victory.

The other semi-final features a South African clash between 10th seeded Amanda Coetzer and the unseeded Joanette Kruger. Coetzer overcame eighth seeded German Anke Huber 6-4 6-4 and Kruger recovered from 0-5 and saved four match points in the final set to overcome Russia's Elena Dementieva 2-6 6-3 7-6 (7-5).