Federer Looks Automatic in Sweeping Aside Hewitt

Only one man can regularly make the second-ranked tennis player in the world look more like the 22nd.

How many times have we seen it?

Roger Federer snaps his fingers, or more precisely, flicks his racket, and Lleyton Hewitt of Australia goes home without a title. Or, in this case, without a spot in the final.

The top-seeded and two-time defending champion Federer of Switzerland defeated Hewitt, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4), in the semifinals at Wimbledon on Friday. Hewitt, who is ranked second but seeded third here, has lost to Federer eight consecutive times, and Federer has won 15 consecutive sets against Hewitt, going back to the quarterfinals here last year.

“I never feel unbeatable,” said Federer, who has won 20 matches in a row at Wimbledon and is on a 35-match winning streak on grass. “There’s too many players out there. It’s a new day. You have to feel great. It starts from zero, like a soccer match basically.”

As if Federer needed an extra break, he got one from the weather later in the afternoon. While he can rest, his potential opponent in Sunday’s final will have plenty of tennis to play in the other semifinal today.

Second-seeded Andy Roddick, who lost to Federer in last year’s final, was locked in a first-set struggle against No. 12 Thomas Johansson of Sweden when rain stopped their match at 4:05 p.m. London time. They had played 32 minutes and remained on serve. It is scheduled to resume today with Johansson serving, at 5-6, and the women’s final between Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport will follow.

At one point, the cover was taken off the court, but that only served as a brief tease to the patient Centre Court fans. The court was being prepared when the rain resumed and the cover went back on. Play was finally suspended at 7:15 p.m.

Federer-Hewitt had been viewed as the more attractive match, but Federer’s consistent brilliance made that moot. A rare moment of vulnerability came in the third game of the first set when Federer was broken, but he would not face another break point after that.

“I didn’t serve as well as I would have liked,” Hewitt said. “But he puts a lot of pressure on your service games, as well.... That’s why he’s gone up a couple of notches because he used to give you a couple more cheap points on your service games, and you don’t get those anymore.”

A few more examples of Federer’s dominance at Wimbledon: He has lost four sets in his 20-match winning streak, and only one this year, to Nicolas Kiefer of Germany in the third round. He has not been pushed to five sets during his streak.

Federer is aware of the numbers. He even helpfully reminded one television interviewer of what happens when he gets to a final, having won his last 20. His losses this year at Grand Slams came in the semifinals, to Marat Safin, at the Australian Open and Rafael Nadal at the French Open.

So, Federer is human, right? Maybe that’s why Hewitt keeps on swinging, staying, as someone pointed out “relentlessly positive,” after eight consecutive losses. And he was asked: Where does that come from?

“I don’t know. That’s probably why I’m sitting here and you’re sitting there,” Hewitt told a reporter.

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Twins Mike and Bob Bryan of Camarillo reached their first Wimbledon men’s doubles final. Today, they will play qualifiers Stephen Huss of Australia and Wesley Moodie of South Africa. Huss and Moodie beat the top-seeded team of Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Max Mirnyi of Belarus in four sets in the semifinals on Friday.

The second-seeded Bryans defeated No. 4 Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, in the other semifinal. This will be the third consecutive Grand Slam final of 2005 for the Bryans, who lost at the Australian and French Opens. Previously, their best finish at Wimbledon was the semifinals in 2001 and 2002.