Hamburg Masters Series May 14-20 2007

Semi final defeated by Rafael Nadal 2-6 6-3 7-5

Rafael Nadal had to come from a set down on Saturday to win an almighty scrap with Lleyton Hewitt 2-6 6-3 7-5 and book a Hamburg Masters final date with Roger Federer.

Nadal so often makes winning on clay look effortless but against the rejuvenated Hewitt he needed guts and guile to extend his winning streak on clay to 81 matches, a run that dates back to April 2005.

Nadal's long winning streak on clay has brought him 13 tournaments, including two French Opens, but he was far from his commanding best in the first set against Hewitt, who came into the tournament having contested just one match in two months.

"Lleyton played very aggressively, keeping the ball low and that made it very hard for me," Nadal said.

The Australian former world number one hit a series of ferocious winners as he broke twice in the first set but the match turned when he dropped serve at the start of the second.

Nadal capitalized to force a decider and he was quickly ahead in that, too.

Hewitt hauled himself back and saved three match points on the Nadal serve in game 10. Nadal looked like blowing another chance to serve out when leading 6-5 but he saved two break points and sealed victory with a crosscourt pass after Hewitt had failed to put away a volley.

"I didn't play my best game today but I'm feeling very good about my form," Nadal said. "I'm very happy to be in another final, and I hope to be at 100 percent and to win, but if I don't it won't make any difference to my confidence."

Quarterfinal defeated Nicholas Almagro 6-3 6-4

Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt cruised into the semi-finals of the Hamburg Masters this morning with a straight-sets victory over Spain's Nicolas Almagro.

Hewitt, currently ranked 21 in the world, won the quarter-final 6-3, 6-4 to set up a clash with French Open champion and second seed Rafael Nadal in the last four.

Rd 3 defeated Nikolay Davydenko 6-4 2-6 6-4

Rd 2 defeated Juan I Chela

Lleyton Hewitt has continued his comeback from injury with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Juan Ignacio Chela in the second round of the Hamburg Masters on Wednesday.

The Australian, who hit with Spanish clay court supermo Rafael Nadal the day before the match, broke Chela in his opening service game and hardly looked back as he went a set and a break up.

In other results, world number one Roger Federer took three sets to move past Argentina's Juan Monaco 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 while Spain's second seed Rafael Nadal breezed through to the third round with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over countryman Oscar Hernandez.

Hewitt was briefly in trouble as Chela clawed the break back and the former world number one had to save two set points when 5-6 down.

But Hewitt, who is the 16th seed in Hamburg, managed to hang in and force a tie-break, winning it 7-3 with a punched half-court forehand on match point.

Hewitt, the former world number one, came into the tournament with just one match under his belt in two months.

After two victories over crafty claycourt players - he beat another Argentine, Agustin Calleri in the first round - he was highly pleased with his start in Hamburg.

"I played very well," Hewitt, who now rates himself fully fit, said at a news conference.

"I stepped up another notch form the first round."

"The practice with Nadal was good. He's the stand-out player on this surface. Roger is great on any surface but Nadal takes it to another level on clay, and I feel I hit it well with him."

Hewitt will go on to face either Russia third seed Nikolay Davydenko or Frenchman Gilles Simon in the third round.

Whether he seeks a partnership with Australian coach Tony Roche, who recently split with world number one Roger Federer, remains to be seen.

"It's something I'll look at, but I'm sure Tony's got a lot of things going through his mind as well," Hewitt said.

"Rochey's a hell of a coach, if not the best guy around. I was lucky enough to get a helping hand from him in the Davis Cup when I was very young. I've got a lot of time for him."

Rd 1 defeated Agustin Calleri 6-3 6-4

Lleyton Hewitt kick-started his claycourt campaign with a morale-boosting straight sets win over Argentine Augustin Calleri in the first round at the Hamburg Masters.

With an opening round loss at the Masters Series event in Rome last week and the French Open less than a fortnight away, Hewitt was keen to rack up some game time on the slow courts of Europe.

In his second tournament back from a two month injury lay-off, Hewitt would have expected some stiff opposition from the 28th ranked Calleri, whose only only two ATP tournament wins have come on his preferred surface of clay.

But the former world No.1 dismissed Calleri's challenge 6-3 6-4 today.

"I haven't sort of put a goal in place for this week," said Hewitt.

"What I want to try and do is to try and get as many matches under my belt as possible leading into Paris. So it was a good start today."

Hewitt, who hasn't always seen eye to eye with a number of the Argentines over the years, faces another in Juan Ignacio Chela, next.

The two have had a particularly strained relationship, which reached its nadir when Chela spat in Hewitt's direction during a third round clash at the 2005 Australian Open.