The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Roger Federer retains Pacific Life Open title

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 22, 2005

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Roger Federer retains Pacific Life Open title

INDIAN WELLS, MARCH 21. Top-ranked Roger Federer had every part of his game working on Sunday, beating No. 2 Lleyton Hewitt 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 to successfully defend his Pacific Life Open title.

Federer, on a roll that has carried him to 42 wins in his last 43 matches, displayed his usual dazzling array of shots.

Hitting powerful, accurate groundstrokes that kept his Australian opponent scrambling back and forth at the baseline, Federer mixed in winning volleys, winning drop shots and the occasional overhead that he rarely failed to put away.

Federer extended his winning streak over Hewitt to seven in a row, including last year's U.S. Open final.

Federer's skills were evident during an amazing 45-shot rally in the second set — even though he lost the point.

Towards the end of that rally, the 23-year-old Swiss chased down a shot near the net, sprinted back and across the court to return a lob, came up again to hit another shot, then scurried back once again to flick the ball over his shoulder to return another lob.

Hewitt then hit a drop shot just over the net far to Federer's right. It looked to be a winner, but Federer raced forward, stretched as far as he could and hit the ball back. Hewitt went sprawling to his right and volleyed for a winner.

Both players were out of breath, but smiled broadly. The crowd roared its approval, with the applause continuing for several minutes.

``It's always been my dream to be the best. Now I am and I am enjoying it,'' the 23-year-old Swiss said. ``The more victories you get, the better you feel.''

Although Hewitt was slowed by sore toes, he gave Federer credit for playing a great match. ``That's sort of the standard that he's put himself in week in and week out,'' Hewitt said. ``It's not like he's doing something freaky, out of the blue. If you want to be the best player in the world, you've got to look at where the benchmark is. And he's set it pretty high.''

Fourth title of the year

Federer ended the match with his 15th ace — to Hewitt's four — and raised his arms high and beamed. He hit the ball into the cheering crowd, with his usual one-handed backhand.

Federer's title was his fourth of the year and seventh in his last eight tournaments.

His only defeat since he began last year's U.S. Open last year was by Marat Safin in the Australian Open semifinals. Safin then beat Hewitt in the final.

The 24-year-old Hewitt, who held the No. 1 ranking in 2002 and 2003, lost for just the third time in 23 matches this year. He had a relatively quick turnaround for the match, with his semifinal victory over No. 3 Andy Roddick going three sets — and three tiebreakers — the previous night.

Federer had cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Guillermo Canas in their afternoon semifinal. — Agencies

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport