Roddick battles past Hewitt in five-set epic
Roddick was forced to work hard for his place in the semi-finals
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Wednesday, 01, Jul 2009 09:38
Andy Roddick has qualified for the semi-finals of Wimbledon following a marathon five-set battle with former champion Lleyton Hewitt.
The Australian fought-off a leg injury at the end of the third set to force an unlikely deciding set, but Roddick – a runner-up at SW19 in 2004 and 2005 – eventually prevailed 6-3 6-7 (10/12) 7-6 (7/1) 5-7 6-4.
Having broken Hewitt in his first service game Roddick served well in the first set and cantered his way to a one-set lead.
But the second set was a much closer affair with both men holding serve through out meaning a tie-break was needed to separate them.
Roddick looked like he may have gained the upper hand when he went 5-2 ahead in the tie-break and held three set points at various stages but could not capitalise on any of them.
Hewitt wasted two set points of his own before finally levelling the match by winning the tie-break 12-10.
The third set went to Roddick as he dominated the tie-break this time winning it 7-1.
Hewitt looked to have injured his leg at the end of the third set which may have been a contributing factor and he dropped an early service game at the start of the fourth set.
But he came back into the match with a sudden surge of energy, breaking Roddick just as the match looked to be heading for yet another tie-break.
Things were close in a tense final set but Roddick gained the crucial breakthrough in the ninth game to go 5-4 ahead.
After three hours and 50 minutes on court the American held his nerve, and his serve, to set-up a semi-final against Andy Murray.
Earlier on Court One Tommy Haas stunned fourth seed Novak Djokovic to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time.
The German won the first two sets before a brief fightback by Djokovic, however, Haas won it 7-5 7-6 (8/6) 4-6 6-3. He will play Roger Federer in the last four.