A-Rod too hot for Hewitt

Roddick: Semi delight

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Andy Roddick booked his spot in the Wimbledon semi-finals with an enthralling five set win over Lleyton Hewitt on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old sealed a last four date with Andy Murray by beating the popular Australian 6-3 6-7 (10/12) 7-6 (7/1) 4-6 6-4.

The three-hours and fifty-minute contest was one of pure grit and determination where both players' will to win were laid for all to see on Court 1.

Roddick started the match supremely and raced to an opening set lead, but Hewitt responded immediately and claimed a lengthy tie-break to level things up.

The third set went the distance too but Hewitt's game falling to pieces in the breaker handed Roddick the lead, only for him to respond once more and force the match into a decider.

The unseeded Australian started the fifth the stronger, but it was the Texan who was to claim the crucial break and the No. 6 seed will have to recover quickly before Friday's clash with Murray.

Sluggish

Hewitt, who was slow to get going in his last round against Radek Stepanek, found himself in early trouble on Court 1 after being broken on his opening service game, coughing up two straight double-faults.

Roddick raced through the gears and the No. 6 seed wrapped the set up three minutes shy of the half-hour mark.

Hewitt, who fell two sets to love down on Monday before coming back to win, found his rhythm and made a much better fist of it in the second set.

The unseeded Australian may have been at a snail's pace in the early goings, but he soon turned the contest into a slug-fest and was coming out on top in the baseline exchanges on Roddick's serve.

The American found himself break-point down in the fourth game and opted to come to the net in a bid to take away Hewitt's time, but the 28-year-old found a sublime backhand passing shot down the line from way out in the tram-lines and the partisan crowd found their voice.

Both players had to get themselves out of trouble on serve as the set edged into a tie-break, and the pair shared breaks of serve in the opening two points of the breaker before Roddick reclaimed the mini-break with an un-returnable forehand.

Hewitt responded and the pair swapped ends at six a piece, before the Australian took advantage to earn a set point.

Roddick blasted two big serves which handed him his first set point, only for Hewitt to find a big first serve and a winning forehand.

A gargantuan exchange of 21 shots ended with Hewitt missing the easiest shot of the point after Roddick played a dubious drop-shot.

But Hewitt was not to be deterred as he eventually took the second set when Roddick hit a forehand long.

Spark

The third set began in unspectacular fashion as both players held their serve, with Hewitt's obligatory 'C'mon' in the eighth game following a brilliant forehand passing shot one of the major moments up until then.

Some fine returning from the Aussie in the next game helped the former Wimbledon champion get Roddick at 15-30, but the two-time SW19 finalist swiftly dashed Hewitt's hope of a break by firing down some huge serves.

Roddick took Hewitt to deuce in the tenth game but the man from Down Under snuffed out the American's quest to seal the third set with some super aggressive tennis.

Roddick unconvincingly held his serve to force Hewitt to serve to stay in the set and he did just that before taking the opening point of the tie-breaker by forcing an error out of Roddick.

But that was a good as it got for the World No. 56 as three double-faults and some colossal hitting from Roddick saw the Nebraska-born man clinch the third set.

Tenacity

As the setting-sun cast a shadow over Court 1, Hewitt's chances of mounting a comeback faded fast as he dropped his serve in the opening game of the fourth set.

Now hampered by the leg injury he picked up in the last round, Hewitt had to dig into every ounce of his fighting spirit to stay in the hunt, and at 1-2, Hewitt got back on level terms with some tenacious play.

The adrenaline was flowing through Hewitt's veins at this point and he kept his energy up all the way to the tenth game where he orchestrated a set-point with a thunderous forehand and took the match into a decider at the first time of asking.

A mammoth 12 minute game opened the fifth and final set which saw Hewitt cling onto his serve after numerous deuces, before Roddick was forced to dig deep to keep hold of his serve in game four.

Roddick turned the tables on Hewitt in game nine when the American claimed the break after another lengthy service game and the big-hitting right-hander made no mistake in sealing the match in the next service game when Hewitt volleyed past the baseline.