Champion Roddick Back in Final

Back to list >

Top seed and defending champion Andy Roddick set up a repeat of last year's final against Sebastien Grosjean after recording his first ever victory over Lleyton Hewitt, ending the Australian's hopes of a record-equalling fourth Stella Artois Championship. Roddick recovered from losing his serve early in the match to defeat the sixth seed 7-6(8), 6-3 in 1 hour, 15 minutes.

Hewitt came into the semifinal having won 20 of his last 21 matches at The Queen's Club as well as all three of his previous meetings against the American. But their last clash was nearly three years ago in the quarterfinals at the US Open, and a lot has changed for both players since then.

Nevertheless, it was Hewitt who went up the early break to lead 3-2 in the first set, and the sixth seeded Australian served for the opener at 5-4. But a loose game handed Roddick the chance he needed, and the 21-year-old made the most of his opportunity to force a tie-break.

As expected, it was close all the way, with Roddick saving a set point at 5-6 with a 128 mph second serve on the line that Hewitt failed to return. At 7-7, Hewitt sent a forehand wide to give Roddick his first set point, which he converted with a service winner.

With the momentum firmly in his favour, Roddick broke Hewitt in the opening game of the second set and never looked back, equaling his record serve from Friday with a 153 mph delivery - one of his 15 aces - and eventually clinched a place in his fourth final of the year when Hewitt double faulted for the second time on match point.

"I think he played a better first set than I did today, but he played a pretty sloppy game when he served for it at 5-4," said Roddick. "It gave me a chance and I played a really solid tie-break. In the second set, I was very pleased with the way I played.

"Overall, I'm a better player than last year. I thought I played great here last year, and my form this time kind of matches that. But I'm better between the ears than I was a year ago. I've got more confidence on a day to day basis. I might lose tomorrow, but it wouldn't shock my confidence as much as it maybe would have done a year ago."

Roddick, who has won two titles this year in San Jose and the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami, will be looking to claim his 14th career title on Sunday. He leads the head-to-head series against Grosjean 3-1, with their last meeting taking place at the ATP Masters Series in Montreal last year, when Roddick also went on to claim the title. Grosjean's only victory came on clay in the semifinals of the Davis Cup in 2002 in Paris.

Looking ahead to the final, Roddick added: "It feels like déjà vu. He's a very clever player. He can hurt you with his forehand, he serves very big for someone not so tall. There's not a whole lot he doesn't do well. He returns well, he can volley, there's no glaring holes in his game. But I'm excited about being in the final again and I'll give it a go."

For Hewitt, whose hopes of joining John McEnroe and Boris Becker with four titles at The Queen's Club, there were still some positives to be gained. "It's been a great week, great preparation for Wimbledon, I've got four matches under my belt against four different kinds of players," said the Australian.

"I felt like I hit the ball well. I returned well throughout the whole match. Obviously he's going to serve aces and he's got a great serve, but I felt I returned it well. He's a better player than he was when I last played him, but I came out the blocks well and had him under pressure. It was just a momentum swing after I lost the first set."

Back to list >