Hewitt advances to U.S. Open semifinals
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-09 08:56

NEW YORK -- All Lleyton Hewitt needed were a couple good "Come ons!" to get him going.

Lleyton Hewitt of Australia celebrates a point in his last set against Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in their quarterfinal match at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in Flushing Meadows, New York September 8, 2005. [Reuters]

In trouble against unseeded Jarkko Nieminen, Hewitt finally broke out his trademark shouts in the fifth set Thursday. Sure enough, the 2001 champion and last year's runner-up finished Nieminen off 2-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 to advance to the U.S. Open semifinals for a fifth time.

"Maybe I should have used them a bit earlier," Hewitt said. "It was nice just to get through the fifth set. A lot of the games were tight ... and a few just went my way."

The third-seeded Hewitt will play either No. 1 Roger Federer, who won last year's final, or 11th-seeded David Nalbandian on Saturday. The other semifinal will feature Robby Ginepri and Andre Agassi, whose thrilling five-set match against James Blake on Wednesday night was one for the ages.

Hewitt is notoriously noisy on the court, and more than a few opponents have complained about his fist pumps, forehand taps and loud shouts of "Come on!" when he makes a good shot. But the Australian, newly married and a few weeks from becoming a father, has barely made a peep at the Open.

He didn't say a word early on against Nieminen. Maybe he'd stayed up late to watch Agassi's thrilling win, because he looked half-asleep for most of the first four sets. Even his traveling band of rowdy Aussie fans was nowhere to be heard.

Instead, it was Nieminen making all the noise and there were chants of "Let's go, Jarkko!" from the stands. The lefty had won only one match at the Open before this year, but he made an impressive run to become the first Finn to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam event.

After Hewitt won his first two service games to go up 2-1 in the first set, it was all Nieminen. He was everywhere on the court as he won the next five games, coming back time and again and saving balls most players wouldn't have gotten anywhere near.

Hewitt, meanwhile, couldn't get anything in his game working. He dumped one shot after another into the net, backhands and forehands alike, and put far too much power on several volleys.

He finally showed some life in the second set, winning 19 of 21 points on his way to a 5-0 lead. He served out the set to even the match 1-1, but then retreated again as Nieminen took the next set.

After evening the match at again at 2-2, Hewitt finally started chattering.

He let out a loud "Come on!" when he broke Nieminen in the first game of the fifth set, and that broke the spell. He served a 122-mph ace -- the first of 10 straight points he won on serve -- and raced to a 4-0 lead. Nieminen made one last stand, enduring nine deuces before holding serve. But Hewitt streaked through the next two games, closing out the match with a volley winner and yelling "Come on!" one last time.

"It's nice to be through to another semifinal, another tough match," said Hewitt, who also played a five-setter to get to the quarters. "Every match gets tougher."

Tell that to Agassi. Pushed to the edge by Blake, he responded with a match that rivaled Jimmy Connors' run to the U.S. Open semifinals at 39. Down two sets and a break, he took Blake to five sets, then survived a tiebreaker for a 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (6) triumph that put him in the semis -- and two wins from the title he won in 1994 and '99.

When the match finally ended at 1:09 Thursday morning, Arthur Ashe Stadium was still full and fans at home were mesmerized, knowing they'd been treated to something special.

"Everyone keeps asking when he's going to retire," Blake said. "He has no reason to retire. He's one of the best in the world, still chasing Grand Slams. If he's still enjoying it and still finding ways to motivate himself, I say let him play forever."

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