TENNIS: "Shocking" was the word Andy Roddick used and, although he might have been referring to his own performance in losing 3-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-1 to Lleyton Hewitt in the second of the semi-finals, he was in fact talking about the Australian's previous failure, in eight attempts, to get beyond the last 16 of his own grand slam championship.

Standing in Hewitt's way is the Russian Marat Safin. Yesterday, the grounds were still quietly reverberating from the fall of the reigning champion and world number one Roger Federer in five sets to Safin on Thursday.

The moment Safin converted match-point Hewitt and Roddick must have felt a massive surge of adrenalin for, with Federer gone, their chances of winning the title rose 100 fold.

For an hour it appeared Roddick might seize the moment. He took the opening set with an unstoppable flurry of aces, two of them timed at 227 kph (142 mph), and won his first service game in the second set with four more.

Hewitt's clear blues eyes stared back down the court like a man in the midst of a thunderstorm straining to see light on the horizon.

The Australian had dropped his own serve in the second game of the opening set; now he assiduously protected it in the second set with the resolve of six men. It was essential, at the very least, that he hung on for the tie-break where, despite Roddick's excellent record, Hewitt fancied his chances of applying optimum pressure.

And Roddick cracked, losing the tie-break 7-3. Hewitt's Fanatics, a small group of cheerleaders who had been mute early on, urged their man on, only to sink back in their paid-for seats when the first set was replicated, Hewitt dropping his serve and going 3-0 down.

Before this match, Hewitt had already been on court for 14 hours and 38 minutes. Roddick's five wins had taken him little more than half this time and it appeared he was about to benefit.

There was one problem, Roddick himself. It has become increasingly obvious that of the four players who reached the semi-finals here, and the semi-finals of last November's Masters Cup in Houston, the American is the weakest link.

Federer, Safin and Hewitt, who by winning this match took over from Roddick as the world number two, are all much more talented and versatile than the American, who is reliant on two weapons, albeit huge ones - his serve and his forehand.

The only time he had beaten Hewitt was on the grass at Queen's Club and, for all the Australian's criticism of the slowness of the courts here, it worked in his favour on this occasion. Hewitt broke back with Roddick complaining about somebody calling out when he was serving. "The Fanatics are great, as were the rest of the crowd. It took one jackass to yell out."

In truth, he was more rattled by Hewitt. The second tie-break went the way of the first and thereafter Roddick slid to oblivion with unseeming haste, just as he had when losing to Hewitt in the Masters Cup semi-finals last year.

With Federer gone, a Safin-Hewitt final is by far the more attractive option. They have never met in a major. In their one final, on the quick court of the Paris Indoor Open in 2002, Safin won in straight sets.

Safin has the power to overwhelm anybody. Hewitt is buoyed with destiny. But that 29-year wait for a home winner may well be extended to 30 tomorrow.