Roddick Is Left at Station by a Local

Eventually, Andy Roddick became just like all the other victims pulled into swirling vortex of Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open.

The symptoms: confusion, irritation and loss of skills.

First went the lead, then the composure and then the blinding serve. Out of options, Roddick was soon out of the Australian Open on Friday night, giving way to the will of Hewitt and his fervent Aussie supporters packing Rod Laver Arena.

The third-seeded Hewitt defeated No. 2 Roddick, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-1, in 2 hours 54 minutes in the semifinals, and next plays No. 4 Marat Safin of Russia, who will be in his third Australian Open final. Safin and Hewitt are 5-5 and split their two meetings last year.

Hewitt, 23, became the first Australian man to reach this final since 1988, the year the tournament was moved to Melbourne Park. That year, Pat Cash lost to Mats Wilander of Sweden in five sets.

Hewitt will be trying to end the long Aussie drought. This isn’t quite like the 1936 specter of Fred Perry, hovering over British men at Wimbledon. But almost every story about the tournament here seems to have this line: Hewitt is trying to become the first Australian man to win the Australian Open since Mark Edmondson in 1976.

How’s this for destiny? The final between Hewitt and Safin will be played at night in Melbourne, the first prime-time men’s Grand Slam final, and the tournament has been one marathon tennis festival this fortnight, a celebration of the event’s centennial.

“I always said I’d do anything to play in the first night final in Australian Open men’s history and I’ve got my chance,” Hewitt said.

This destiny thing has had a weird effect on his opponents. Though Hewitt had been on the court about twice as long as Roddick before their semifinal -- needing five sets in the fourth round and the quarterfinals -- Roddick was the weary-looking one in the final stages.

“I’m [ticked] off,” said Roddick, who squandered an early service break in the third set. “I’m mad. I felt like I was in there with a shot. To lose two breakers, I’m normally pretty money in those.”

His new coach, Dean Goldfine, said Roddick had started going for the “quick fix,” rather than working the points.

Roddick’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, was surprised that Roddick lost both tiebreakers, given the power of his serve and that he has been such a “great tiebreak player.”

Said Roddick: “When you just lose a third-set tiebreaker and then all of a sudden the wheels start turning a little bit faster, it’s tough to stop.”

That became clear in the fourth set. Roddick had only one of his 31 aces in the final set. Stripped of his calling card, he might as well have been reduced to a Spanish clay-courter ... without the tenacity. The former U.S. Open champion hardly looked like the same player who had earlier had seven consecutive aces -- three in his last service game in the first set and four in his first service game of the second.

Outside factors got to Roddick. A fan bothered him by yelling when he tossed the ball to serve in the third set. Later, Roddick said, “The crowd was great tonight.... It was just one jackass to yell out.”

He wasn’t thrilled with tournament referee Peter Bellenger, either. Roddick left the court after losing the third set and disappeared for 11 minutes. Had he left for the airport already?

“He was gone a little bit longer than he should have been,” Bellenger said. “I had to go and get him.”

Roddick was changing clothes in the locker room when Bellenger went to get him. Goldfine said Bellenger “overreacted a little bit.” But the delay was unusually long.

“[Bellenger] started getting on me about changing my clothes, so that was fun,” Roddick said of the locker-room exchange. “You know, I asked him if he wanted to tie one shoe for me, and I could tie the other one, we could just save time. I guess that wasn’t a good idea.

“I wasn’t too fond of it. If you can’t handle something like that -- I have to be better than that. Something like that isn’t an excuse to play the way I did in the fourth set.”

The clothing change didn’t stop him from being tight in the collar. Hewitt won the final set in 34 minutes, practically a slow jog for the marathon man, and reached his first Australian Open final when Roddick hit a return out. Hewitt dropped to the court, giving it a kiss for punctuation.

“It’s awesome,” said Hewitt, who will be trying to add to his Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles. “It’s a little hard to believe at the moment.... I would have given anything to be in this position, to have an opportunity to play one match for the title here in Melbourne. Now, part of that dream’s come true.”