Patrick Rafter reached his third consecutive final with a 6-4 6-3 victory over fellow Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the Cincinnati Masters semi-finals today. Rafter, who was a losing finalist at Wimbledon early last month and at Montreal last week, started the match against the fifth-seeded Hewitt looking sluggish.
Hewitt jumped to a 3-1 lead but from 4-2 down in the first set, Rafter won the next four games to take the set. Rafter wrapped up the match after breaking serve in the fourth game of the second set at 15-40 when Hewitt netted a forehand approach shot. The eighth-seeded Rafter had previously lost both career encounters against Hewitt.
"I always struggle a bit playing Lleyton," Rafter said. "For some reason I'm always a bit nervous playing him."
Rafter's opponent in the final will be the winner of the second semi-final later on Saturday between top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil and seventh-seeded Tim Henman of Britain.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
