Rafter ousts Hewitt to reach Cincinnati final

Patrick Rafter reached his third consecutive final with a 6-4 6-3 victory over fellow Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the Cincinnati Masters semifinals on Saturday.

The eighth-seeded Rafter, who had lost to Hewitt in their two previous matches, hopes to break a run that has seen him lose in his last two final appearances.

He lost in the Montreal final last week to Andrei Pavel of Romania, but it was his defeat at the hands of Goran Ivanisevic in the Wimbledon final that weighed heaviest.

It was Rafter's second consecutive loss in a Wimbledon final, having fallen to Pete Sampras in four sets in 2000.

"I'm going to be really focused, very concentrated for this final," said Rafter, who beat Pete Sampras in the final of this event in 1998.

The 28-year-old Australian still plans to take six months off tennis later in the year, maybe never to return to the game.

He is committed to seeing Australia through the Davis Cup -- their upcoming semifinal is against Sweden in Sydney in September -- and also will play in the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Sydney if he makes the eight-man cut.

He revealed on Saturday that he plans to miss the 2002 Australian Open in January.

"I'm gone after Davis Cup, but I'll play the Masters if I make it," said Rafter, who plans to divide his time between Australia and his home in Bermuda.

"But during the Australian Open, the Australian summer, I plan to be looking around Australia. There's a lot of Australia I haven't seen."

Rafter, who has not won a trophy since the Heineken Trophy ('s-Hertogenbosch) in 2000, started the match against the fifth-seeded Hewitt looking sluggish.

Hewitt took a 3-1 lead by breaking serve in the third game of the first set.

"I've played a lot of practice sets against Lleyton and I never get off to a good start," Rafter said. "So I was just thinking it was another practice set."

Five games later Hewitt lost the initiative in the 79-minute match by surrendering his service break advantage.

From 30-30 in the eighth game, Hewitt saved two early break points, but ended up double faulting on the last two points allowing Rafter to draw level at 4-4.

"It should have been an ordinary game but then he basically gift-wrapped it and gave it to me," Rafter said of Hewitt's serve.

The Wimbledon finalist held serve before breaking his compatriot to take the set 6-4.

Rafter wrapped up the match after breaking serve again in the fourth game of the second set at 15-40 when Hewitt netted a forehand approach shot.

Rafter will play the winner of the Saturday evening semifinal between top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil and seventh-seeded Tim Henman of Britain.

The Australian has a 3-3 record against Kuerten and a 3-2 record against Henman.