NEW YORK - There were ominous signs for Australian whiz Lleyton Hewitt at the US Open yesterday.
While the third seed fiddled his way to a five-set win over Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, his semifinal opponent, Roger Federer, made 11th seed David Nalbandian look like a park player.
Federer, the defending
champion, thrashed the Argentine, who once held a 5-0 win-loss record over him, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 in his most impressive display of the tournament so far.
"I played great, that's exactly how it should be at this stage of the tournament," the Swiss top seed said.
"I found some great rhythm. I'm surprised it went so quickly."
Time flies, of course, when you're having fun and Federer was detained for a mere 100 minutes on Arthur Ashe Court.
The days when Nalbandian, whose last win over Federer was in the fourth round here in 2003, held the upper hand in their rivalry are long gone.
The match, played out at the scene of Andre Agassi's dramatic five-set win over James Blake the previous day, had the air of a practice match by comparison, despite Nalbandian going a break up in the first two sets.
Federer reeled off the required winners to break back each time, and a fizzing backhand that sealed the second set prompted Nalbandian to smash his racquet in half - although he even needed two attempts to achieve that.
"I didn't serve well, I couldn't find my game," said Nalbandian, the 2002 Wimbledon runner-up. "When he plays like this it's really tough to beat him. That's why he's No 1 in the world."
Federer admitted he had forgone an early night to watch Agassi's staggering comeback from two sets and a break down to win against Blake.
"I was up myself until 1.30. Maybe it wasn't the best preparation, but I enjoyed it," said the Wimbledon champion, who has now won 33 consecutive hardcourt matches, one short of Pete Sampras' professional era record.
He has also won an astonishing 69 of his last 72 matches, and in a tournament fat with five-set encounters, has dropped only a single set himself so far.
Hewitt meandered through to the semifinals with a disjointed 2-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over Nieminen, almost as if he wanted to delay having to contemplate playing Federer again for as long as possible.
The Swiss demolished Hewitt 6-0, 7-6, 6-0 in last year's final, and has won their last eight matches, six of them in straight sets, including their Wimbledon semifinal two months ago.
"I was just struggling a little bit with my movement," Hewitt said. "I just felt a step slower, a bit sluggish out there. It was patchy."
Nieminen was making history as the first Finn to appear in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam. The left-hander caught Hewitt cold in the first set, his varied pace of shot disrupting the Australian's rhythm on a half-full Arthur Ashe Court.
The world No 57, however, was eventually out-manoeuvred by the 2001 champion, who won the last two sets with relative ease.
"I was a little bit surprised that he didn't feel so confident on the court," Nieminen said. "I felt many times that I could win this match. But he played the important points better in the end."
Men's final four
* Roger Federer v Lleyton Hewitt
* Andre Agassi v Robby Ginepri
- REUTERS
NEW YORK - There were ominous signs for Australian whiz Lleyton Hewitt at the US Open yesterday.
While the third seed fiddled his way to a five-set win over Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, his semifinal opponent, Roger Federer, made 11th seed David Nalbandian look like a park player.
Federer, the defending
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