Hewitt overcomes Gonzalez, meets Moya in final
Eleanor Preston
World number one Lleyton Hewitt fought his way out of trouble in the Cincinnati Masters semi-finals to end the giant-killing run of Fernando Gonzalez.
Hewitt had to dig deep to cope with the power hitting of the Chilean but hung on for a 6-7 7-5 6-2 win.
Hewitt now meets Spain's Carlos Moya in Sunday's final of the $2.95 million Masters Series tournament.
Gonzalez had already beaten fourth seed Tim Henman, Richard Krajicek and Andy Roddick en route to the semis and for most of the first two sets his potent mix of thunderous stroke play and exquisite touch looked to be too good even for Hewitt.
The Australian's accurate serving kept him in the first set until Gonzalez struck a rich seam of form in the tiebreaker, then the Australian had to save five break points in the fourth game of the second.
Having held firm, Hewitt then took only his second break-point of the match at 5-5 when all ill-advised Gonzalez drop shot found the bottom of the net, and served out to level the match.
A break of serve in Gonzalez' opening service game of the decider saw the Chilean's challenge start to fade.
Hewitt broke again for 5-2 lead and his serve held firm once more to give him victory.
The win might just prove costly for Hewitt though.
After flexing his back in the latter stages of the second set, the Australian received treatment from ATP Trainer Doug Spreen before the third set.
Spreen massaged his back and left side while Hewitt lay prostrate on the court.
MOYA'S MARCH
Moya marched into the final with a 6-3 6-4 semi-final win over fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Moya is the first Spanish man in the final of event since Manuel Orantes in 1973, although no Spaniard has ever won.
Sunday's match will be Moya's first hard court Masters Series final since March 1999 when he was runner-up to Mark Philippoussis in Indian Wells, a performance which propelled him to number one in the world.
Moya has already won three titles this year have all been on clay but this week he has carried that form onto hard courts.
"I came here feeling confident," said Moya. "I always feel pretty good on hard courts."
"I had a special feeling that today was going to be my day, I don't know why. I was not nervous. There is always more pressure when you play a Spanish guy but today I didn't feel pressure."
Against Ferrero, Moya set the tone by grabbing a break of serve early in the first set.
He continued to dominate in the second, although Ferrero held on to his serve until 4-4, when a controversial line-call in Moya's favour on break-point decided matters. Moya served out with little trouble.
"My forehand is working really well lately and my serve is also helping a lot," said Moya. "I was lucky to hit a lot of winners today because that's the only way to beat him.
Ferrero had no complaints about the result.
"He hit the ball stronger than me today and that was the key to the match," he said. "One break in a set on hard court is enough because the serve here is very important. I think he played better than me."
