Rain Doesn’t Stop Roddick’s Victory

If Lleyton Hewitt of Australia is No. 2 in the world and nowhere near the rarefied level of Roger Federer, then where does that leave No. 3 Andy Roddick?

The view isn’t bad from Mount Federer.

Federer, of Switzerland, will be trying to win his third straight Wimbledon title, and he spent more time Saturday talking about joining greats Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras in doing so than he did about his opponent in today’s final, Roddick.

Then again, to be fair, Roddick hadn’t reached the final when Federer was in the interview room. While Federer spoke, Roddick played ... and played some more, surviving a surprisingly eventful Wimbledon semifinal against No. 12 Thomas Johansson of Sweden, the 2002 Australian Open champion.

Due to inclement weather, their semifinal had been stopped Friday near the end of the first set, with Roddick leading, 6-5. After play resumed Saturday, the second-seeded Roddick needed three tiebreakers and one crazy net-cord winner to put away the Swede, winning, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-6 (10), 7-6 (5), in nearly three hours.

Resuming a match at such a crucial stage, especially on grass, is never easy. Johansson forced a tiebreaker by holding at 15. In the tiebreaker, Roddick blew two set points and lost it when he hit a forehand long.

“It’s tough coming out of the locker room and all of a sudden getting thrown into the boiler of a tiebreaker in the semifinal of Wimbledon when you’ve been on the court for about 3 1/2 minutes,” Roddick said. “I just [blew] the forehand, then he played a couple of good points.”

The third-set tiebreaker was almost a flip-flop of the first one. Johansson, who was appearing in his first Wimbledon semifinal, squandered three set points, including a tentative forehand hit long on his first one. Roddick won it on his own third set point with a service winner, and the 68-minute third set was longer than the first two sets combined.

For Johansson, the roulette of the fourth-set tiebreaker was especially cruel. Only one point went against serve and it came at 5-5, with Johansson serving. Roddick’s service return hit the net cord and just dribbled over on the other side, and Johansson had absolutely no play on it. Roddick needed one match point, hitting a service winner.

“It was lucky,” Roddick said. “The timing of it couldn’t have been any better for me. I felt guilty about it for a second, then I got over it.”

He had 19 aces against Johansson and did not double-fault once, and has not done so in his last two matches.

Today, Roddick, who is ranked third but seeded second, will play Federer in the final for the second consecutive year. Last year, Roddick was leading Federer when the rains came, causing a delay and major momentum shift, and Federer won in four sets.

“I think he came out really hitting the ball extremely hard last year, which was a surprise for me,” said Federer, who has lost to Roddick just once in nine matches. “ ... That was a different Andy Roddick than I expected.”

Said Roddick: “At times in last year’s final, I tried to play too well. Some things can get away from you.... I don’t know if many people are expecting me to win tomorrow. So, it’s a different situation. I’m going to come out and play free and I’m going to go after him.”

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Head to head

Roger Federer leads his series with Andy Roddick, 8-1:

*--* 2001 Tournament Rnd Winner Basel QF Federer carpet-indoor 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5)

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*--* 2002 Sydney SF Federer hard-outdoor 7-6 (3), 6-4 Basel QF Federer carpet-outdoor 7-6 (5), 6-1

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*--* 2003 Wimbledon SF Federer grass-outdoor 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-3 Montreal SF Roddick hard-outdoor 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3) Houston SF Federer hard-outdoor 7-6 (2), 6-2

*--*

*--* 2004 Wimbledon F Federer grass-outdoor 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-4 Toronto F Federer hard-outdoor 7-5, 6-3 Bangkok F Federer hard-indoor 6-4, 6-0

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