Federer Outlasts Hewitt In 3-Set Win At Cincinnati Tournament

Saturday, August 18th 2007, 4:09 pm

By: News On 6

MASON, Ohio (AP) _ Roger Federer, in pursuit of his 50th career title, moved into the finals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters by beating Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (1) on Saturday.

Federer, who won this event in 2005, will face the winner of the evening semifinal match between fifth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko and ninth-seeded James Blake.

``I missed 50 last week by three or four points,'' Federer said of his loss in the Rogers Cup finals in Montreal to Novak Djokovic. ``Maybe I'll get a little bit closer this week.''

It was the second straight match in which the top-ranked player in the world was pressed to three sets. He beat Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 on Friday.

Federer and Hewitt exchanged service breaks in the second and third games before Federer broke Hewitt again in the fourth game with a blistering crosscourt shot to take control of the first set.

Both players held throughout the second set, which Hewitt won in a tiebreaker.

The third set went much like the first, with Federer and Hewitt trading service breaks in the fifth and sixth games.

But the second tiebreaker was played much differently than the first, in which Hewitt won the first three points and ultimately prevailed. This time, Federer yielded on only Hewitt's first serve, then ran off six straight points.

``It always makes me nervous playing against him because he makes you miss so much,'' Federer said.

Federer committed 36 unforced errors. But he also served 18 aces.

``I thought I served really well,'' Federer said. ``I'm very happy.''

Federer has beaten Hewitt 11 straight times, including last week's quarterfinals in Montreal. Hewitt dominated Federer in their early matches, taking 7 of 9 from 1999 to 2003. But he has not beaten Federer since then.