Lleyton Hewitt celebrated his meteoric rise to world number one by beating Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4 6-3 on Saturday to reach the season-ending Masters Cup final. The Australian will meet Sebastien Grosjean in Sunday's best-of-five-set final after the Frenchman defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-4 6-2.
Despite suffering from a groin strain that almost forced him to pull out of the match, the 20-year-old Hewitt was far too quick and athletic for his Spanish opponent, breaking him four times to seal victory in an hour-and-a-half.
Hewitt said he almost did not make it on court because of his groin problem but was confident he would be able to play the final. "I didn't give myself that much of a chance of finishing the match when I went out there...but I just tried to play attacking tennis and forget about it," Hewitt said. "There's a good chance I'm not going to be 100 per cent for the final but I'm just going to have to try and fight through it.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
