Hewitt, Moya Advance To Championship

AP

  
 
   

MASON, Ohio (AP) Top-ranked Lleyton Hewitt beat unseeded Fernando Gonzalez 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-2 Saturday night to advance to the final of the Cincinnati Masters Series.

The Australian star will face Carlos Moya on Sunday in the championship match. The 16th-seeded Moya beat Spanish countryman Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-4.

Hewitt, preparing for his U.S. Open title defense, has won four titles this year, including Wimbledon and the Masters Series event in Indian Wells, Calif.

Gonzalez has won a tournament in his native Chile, but has not progressed beyond the round of 16 in any of the major tournaments before this week, when he beat fourth-seeded Tim Henman and 12th-seeded Andy Roddick en route to the semifinals.

Moya used precise shotmaking to defeat the eighth-seeded Ferrero.

"I had a special feeling that today was going to be my day," Moya said. "I just had the feeling that something was going to happen. I don't know why."

Moya broke Ferrero's serve only twice - once in each set - but that was enough.

"Just one break is the match," Ferrero said. "His serve is stronger than mine. Today also I didn't return so good. I return very short all the time, and he takes his forehand and moves me to the other side and takes the point."

The break in the first set came in game four when Moya hit a passing shot down the line after moving Ferrero to the left side of the court. In the second set, Ferrero double-faulted on a break point and dropped his racket in disgust.

"For me, I think it was good," Ferrero said of the out call.

Moya had only to serve out to complete the upset. He got Ferrero going the wrong way to create double match point, then got Ferrero to hit into the net.

"My forehand is working really well lately," Moya said. "I tried to control the game with my forehand. I also was very confident in my serve."

Ferrero had beaten Moya five straight times since their first match in 1999 in Barcelona. In their last match, the Masters Series final in Monte Carlo in April, Ferrero won the title in straight sets.

Saturday's match was the first time two players from Spain had met in a semifinal match at any hardcourt Masters Series event.

Moya is the first Spanish finalist at this tournament since 1973, when Manuel Orantes lost to Ilie Nastase.

Although he won titles at Acapulco, Bastad and Umag, Moya's best finish in a major tournament this year was as runner-up at Monte Carlo.

The tournament is sponsored by the Western & Southern Financial Group.

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