Hewitt beats Henman; Blake beats Roddick
LONDON -- James Blake ended the three-year Queen's Club reign of Andy Roddick on Saturday, making himself a surprise contender for Wimbledon.
Blake beat his fellow American 7-5, 6-4 to reach his first grass-court final, where he will face another three-time former Stella Artois champion Lleyton Hewitt.
"It was the best grass court match I think I've ever played," Blake said after denying Roddick a chance to become the first player to win four consecutive titles at Queens. "I knew how talented he was on grass and how effective his serve can be, so I knew I had to take chances."
Hewitt beat Tim Henman 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Afterward the Briton complained bitterly about the line calls.
Fifth seed Blake has slipped through the draw almost unnoticed and nobody has been more surprised at his progress than the 26-year-old New Yorker.
Blake, who is a hard-court specialist, readily admits he is a stranger to grass. He has never been beyond the second round at Wimbledon and had little expectations against Roddick, runner-up at the grass-court Grand Slam for the last two years.
"It's disappointing, but I think from my standpoint I want to build confidence for Wimbledon," Roddick said. "I feel like I've done that this week ... It took someone playing an amazing match to get me today."
However, he neutralized Roddick's serve by stepping in early to hit his returns and outplayed the defending champion in the rallies.
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LONDON -- Having finished runner-up at Wimbledon for the last two years, Andy Roddick could expect to be seeded second for the season's third Grand Slam event next week, meaning he would avoid defending champion Roger Federer until the final.
But, following his surprise semifinal loss to James Blake at the Queen's Club on Saturday, Roddick said he would take nothing for granted. Unlike the other Grand Slams, Wimbledon bases its seedings on a formula taking into account grass-court performances rather than the ATP rankings, where Roddick is currently ranked fifth. "I don't expect to be the No. 2 seed, but I would certainly feel deserving if I was given it," Roddick said. "I think I've proven over the last three years that I probably am the second best grass-court player. But that being said, I haven't had the best of years so far this year, up to my standard, at least. So it's interesting. "I think it's a coin flip at this point. I don't think you can discount what [French Open champion and world No. 2 [Rafael] Nadal has done just because it's on other surfaces." Roddick believes his Wimbledon preparations are on track despite his loss to Blake.
"I want preparation for Wimbledon and I want to build confidence for Wimbledon. I feel like I've done that this week. I've beaten some quality players and it took someone
playing an amazing match to get me [Saturday]." |
"That's what I needed to do to beat a great player like him," beamed Blake after sliding a backhand winner down the line on his second match point.
"I had to take my chances and today they were going in."
Blake has reason to be confident in Sunday's final too. He beat Australian Hewitt on a hard court to win the Las Vegas title in March.
Henman was incensed by the line calls during his semifinal against Hewitt and called the supervisor on court to complain during the third set before sliding to defeat.
Hewitt, who won the Queen's Club title in 2001, 2002 and 2003, kept his cool and said: "I'm just happy to get through to another final at Queen's.
"Tim was playing extremely well. There were so many close line calls out there and people can't get it right 100 percent of the time."
Hewitt beat Henman in the 2001 and 2002 finals at Queen's Club, although both have slipped down the rankings since then -- Hewitt to 13th and Henman to 76th.
A single break proved enough to secured Hewitt the first set and Henman responded in kind to take the second.
In the third set, the four-time Wimbledon semifinalist immediately broke Hewitt to love but lost his serve at 2-1 when a forehand was called out, despite television replays suggesting it had clipped the line.
Henman screamed "No!" in fury and summoned the supervisor to complain in the changeover at 2-3.
It did him no good and the Briton subsided meekly, sending a forehand half-volley long on match point to end an encouraging week on a sour note.
"The line calling was appalling today," said Henman but he admitted: "I don't think I handled it particularly well."
Hewitt will attempt to emulate Boris Becker and John McEnroe on Sunday by winning his fourth Queen's Club title.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
