Hewitt beats Roddick to reach semis

Fourth seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia defeated 18th seed Andy Roddick of the United States 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 on Thursday night to reach the semifinals of the U.S. Open.

The three-hour, 40-minute, five-set match ended only when Hewitt sent a forehand past Roddick for his third break point conversion in 10 opportunities.

Hewitt, 20, will next face Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the 27-year-old seventh seed who defeated top seed and world number one Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil earlier in the day.

Roddick, who turned 19 just a week earlier, was rattled after the chair umpire overruled a line call on a shot very close to the line on the opposite side of the court.

That made the score love-15. A Roddick backhand into the net at 30-30 set up the match pointwhich Hewitt grabbed with both hands.