Lleyton Hewitt celebrates: Hewitt hews to Australian Open final
Hewitt hews to Australian Open final
The 24-year-old world No. 3 Lleyton Hewitt is just one step from his Lifelong Dream – Australian Open title. Lleyton’s marathon run at the Australian Open continued witch defeating Andy Roddick 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 in a highly spectacular semi-final. Another MARAThoner – Marat Safin, who turned 25 on the day of his win over Roger Federer, awaits Hewitt in the Australian Open final. With only one day off before the final on January 30, Hewitt is in danger of suffering the same fate as the Russian last year at Australian Open, who was exhausted and lost in three sets to Swiss Roger Federer in the final. However, Hewitt's previously long and tough matches at Australian Open didn't seem to affect him much, and Roddick was the player who faded in the fourth set.Unlike Roddick, Hewitt proved to be able to raise his game at a crucial moment. After winning the two previous Grand Slam tournaments, Hewitt is guaranteed to captivate the Australian public and become a national hero if he becomes Open’s home winner. And deservedly, as the previous Aussie winner of the Australian Open was Mark Edmondson, who beat John Newcombe in the 1976 final. 29 (!) years have passed! No Australian has played in home Open’s finals since Pat Cash, who lost to Stefan Edberg in 1987 and Mats Wilander in 1988. Hewitt was expansive after the much-awaited triumph: "It's awesome... I think everyone knows how much I love playing here in Melbourne." Lleyton Hewitt has been dreaming about winning the Australian Open since his early childhood, even though Lleyton wasn't even born when Mark Edmondson won in the 1976 final. "The Australian Open obviously means a lot to me. I think everyone knows how much I love playing here in Melbourne," Hewitt says. "I have some memories of going out to Court 1 out there and watching Lendl and Rochey train early mornings out there. I used to go to a lot of Pat Cash's matches, Mats Wilander, they were my favourite players. Yeah, I saw a lot of tennis here," said Lleyton Hewitt on the eve of his much-awaited Australian Open final.
2005 Australian Open - Mens: betting oddsMarat Safin vs Lleyton Hewitt Book Closes Jan 30-08:30 Marat Safin 1.61Lleyton Hewitt 2.25
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See also:
Australian Hewitt beats Roddick to reach final against SafinLleyton Hewitt, Aussie crowd favorite, endured 31 aces to beat No.2 Andy Roddick today and advance to the 2005 Australian Open final. ...
Safin owes epic MARAThon win over Federer to signing new coach?Having defeated defending champion Roger Federer in a 5 set race, Russian Marat Safin became the man who finally stopped Roger Federer’s unprecedented 26 ...
