Andy Out Of Australian Open

Andy said goodbye to Melbourne today as he lost his semifinal match against home favourite Lleyton Hewitt 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(4), 6-1.

Having a great start to the match, Andy broke serve early on as Hewitt hit long to give the American a 3-0 lead. At 4-2, Andy saved two break points, with two sensational forehands down the line. Serving out the set, Andy once again faced break points, but was able to overcome them and hit three aces to take the first set 6-3.

Hewitt’s intensity increased in the second set, and both players held serve for a tie break. Andy immediately went a mini break up, but could not hold on, and at 6-3 down, put a backhand into the net to send the Australian crowd into a frenzy as their man leveled at one set all.

Andy appeared to have the upper hand in the third set, as he took advantage of an untimely double fault from Hewitt to take a 2-0 lead. However, at 4-3, Andy then re-paid the favour, with his own double faults to give the break back to the Australian. In an effort to get the crowd on his side, when doing a bad ball toss Andy showed off his Australian accent with a ’sorry mate”. Inevitably, the set went to a tie break. Despite taking a early lead in the breaker, the third set was not to go Andy’s way as Hewitt regained the advantage to take the tie break 7-4.

In the fourth the Australian continued his run of good form to immediately take a break from Andy. At 4-1, a subdued Andy lost his serve again, and was clearly frustrated with his play. Hewitt made no mistake as he served out the match to give himself a place in the final against Marat Safin.