Hewitt battles past Safin to reach semifinals

World number one Lleyton Hewitt battled his way to a 2-6 6-2 7-6 (7-4) win over Russia's Marat Safin on Thursday to reach the semifinals of the Nasdaq-100 Open Masters and stretch his winning run in the U.S. to 22 matches.

Unbeaten on American soil since his U.S. Open victory last year and riding a two-tournament winning streak, the Australian's run of success appeared in danger when sixth seed Safin took the opening set.

The set was only the third surrendered by Hewitt in his last 10 matches.

On a sweltering south Florida evening that saw both players change sweat-drenched shirts almost as often as they changed ends, Hewitt displayed a bucketful of his trademark grit as he fought back to level the match.

In the third set Hewitt was at his aggressive best, breaking Safin three times only to have the Australian Open runner-up break back each time.

After Safin had broken to level the set at 4-4, Hewitt immediately broke back, scampering to the net to fire a crosscourt winner.

Delighted by his effort, Hewitt screamed his approval, pumping his clenched fist and jumping in the air. But the celebrations proved premature.

With Hewitt serving for the match, Safin demonstrated some determination of his own, spectacularly diving across the court to send a return just over the net cord and get the break back.

Two more breaks and the set went to a tiebreak won by Hewitt 7-4.

Hewitt will now meet 12th seed Roger Federer of Switzerland, who earlier in the day advanced to his first Masters semifinal with a 6-1 6-1 demolition of Romania's Andrei Pavel.

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