US Open: Hewitt breezes into final

Lleyton Hewitt surged into his first Grand Slam final tonight when he demolished the challenge of Russia’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

The 20-year-old Aussie was in virtual cruise control as he defeated Kafelnikov 6-1 6-2 6-1 in just one hour and 23 minutes in a hugely disappointing semi-final encounter.

Kafelnikov, the conqueror of world number one Gustavo Kuerten in the last round and a former Australian and French Open champion, barely put up any meaningful resistance against the number four seed in what was the most convincing semi-final victory in US Open history.

The worst previous loss was when Frenchman Cedric Pioline won only seven games against Todd Martin in 1999.

Kafelnikov, who sprayed 37 unforced errors around Arthur Ashe stadium, managed just four games and the match ran away from him as early as the first game.

Up 40-love on his own serve it looked like the perfect start until Hewitt replied with five straight points to break serve and seize the initiative.

Once in front the terrier-like Aussie rarely weakens his hold and he broke serve again in the fifth game to stroll to the first set in 24 minutes.

Not even the possibility of an all-Russian final if reigning champion Marat Safin could eclipse Pete Sampras in the second semi-final later tonight could energise the half-hearted efforts of Kafelnikov a player known as the ‘Iron Man’ on the ATP Tour because of the huge amount of tournament matches he plays.

It has brought him almost £15million in career prize money and today it looked as if he was interested in little other than the money and running off to the next tournament.

The second set was a carbon-copy of the error-strewn first for the Russian, apart from one break of the Hewitt serve in the seventh game.

In the third it seemed Kafelnikov had simply accepted his fate, no fight, no stamina, no chance.

When he finally won a solitary game in the sixth game of the final set ironic cheers rang out in the stadium. New Yorkers do not appreciate a man who goes down without a fight.

Hewitt, playing with the ebullience and vibrancy which is the future face of tennis, completed the rout on a comic note when he let out a premature scream of triumph only for the umpire to call a let.

A couple of minutes later, however, it was all over when Kafelnikov dumped yet another double-fisted backhand into the net on Hewitt’s fourth match point.

‘‘It’s an unbelievable feeling right now,’’ said Hewitt. ‘‘We won the Davis Cup in 1999 and I love playing for my country but this is definitely up there with that.

‘‘I just hope I can go out there and play well tomorrow.’’

Meanwhile Kafelnikov insisted he had fought right to the end.

‘‘I tried very hard. I had a game plan but it wasn’t working midway through the first set and so I changed it.

‘‘But for everything I did Lleyton had an answer. He came up with some great passing shots and was on top of his game. When he is that hot he is difficult to beat.’’