Hewitt sweeps past Henman

By Howard Fendrich
Associated Press

World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia defeated Britain's Tim Henman in yesterday's semifinals and is an overwhelming favorite to win his first Wimbledon title tomorrow. Associated Press

By the end, Hewitt's magical play had to be admired even by the 13,000 or so fans trying to will a British man into a Wimbledon final for the first time since 1938.

Alas, "Our Tim" never had a chance against the No. 1-ranked Hewitt, who conjured up 41 winners to just nine unforced errors and picked apart Henman's serve-and-volley game 7-5, 6-1, 7-5 yesterday.

Hewitt heads to his first title match at the All England Club. Henman exits in the semifinals for the fourth time in five years.

"I got on a roll — the ball seemed to be as big as a football out there," U.S. Open champion Hewitt said. "It was hitting the middle of the racket. It was a pretty good feeling."

He'll be an overwhelming favorite for tomorrow's final, no matter the opponent. Hewitt faces the winner of the rain-interrupted semi between No. 27 Xavier Malisse and No. 28 David Nalbandian.

That match resumes with the fifth set today, at the same time that two-time defending champion Venus Williams plays younger sister Serena for the women's title. It's the third all-Williams final in the last four Grand Slam tournaments.

Henman tried to switch styles against Hewitt, against whom he's now 0-6: staying back on first serves, coming in on second serves, swapping baseline strokes.

"Well, as the scoreline suggests, not a lot did work, did it?" Henman said.

As Hewitt put it: "The last few games, he really didn't know what to do."