WESTERN AND SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS
CINCINNATI, OHIO
August 6, 2004
L. HEWITT/M. Safin 6-4, 6-4
Q. Marat was saying he felt like the conditions favored your game more than
his in terms of the wind and the temperature, I guess. Did you feel that
gave you an edge at all?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I don't know. You know, I don't think it probably
favored one guy more than the other. You know, it's been
swirling and a tough breeze, I think, all week, this week.
We've had to deal with it every day and in every match.
You know, I just felt like I handled the breeze well out
there today, though.
Q. How much could you sense his frustration and uncomfort level out there?
LLEYTON HEWITT: He gets frustrated, you know, if he makes an easy mistake or
hits a doublefault or gets a bad line call. But, you know,
that's Marat . He's still a great player. You've got to be
very wary of him because he's got so many weapons out there.
Q. It seemed like it was another very complete performance from you.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I felt like, yeah, I played consistent when I needed to.
I attacked, I felt, when I needed to. I just tried to make him
play extra balls out there and make him move a lot. You know,
I felt that was probably my biggest advantage out there, if I
was going to win.
Didn't feel like I served great out there compared with you
know, felt like I've been serving well in all the other
matches this week. But my ground strokes, you know, helped me
hold serve today.
Q. 42 percent of your first serves, but your serve wasn't broken. In this
tournament you've only been broken once. What is it about your service
game that is so steady?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, I served extremely well this whole week apart from
today's match. Today I didn't serve great, but I was able to
back it up with obviously, you know, the first hits. You know,
my second serve held up well. I may have only hit maybe one,
two doubles maximum today.
So, you know, I didn't give him a lot of opportunities to get
the first hit in out there, which he likes to do.
Q. Kind of seems like an obvious question, but how much would it mean to you
to win another Masters Series title, to win it here?
LLEYTON HEWITT: It would be nice, you know, obviously with the field that you
have and you've got to beat. I feel like, especially the last
three matches, I've beaten guys that are worldclass players.
You know, they're out there and they're capable of beating
anyone on any given day, all three of them. That's probably
more satisfying at the moment.
You know, just trying to take it a match at a time. Obviously
the next match is going to be a different matchup depending
on which guy I play.
So, you know, if I get through to the final, then I put myself
in a position to do well this week.
Q. If it is Santoro , he beat you last week in Canada . What was that match
like?
LLEYTON HEWITT: It was a weird match. I dominated probably a set and a half
of it. You know, I got the first set under my belt, had all
the breakpoints early in the second, wasn't able to capitalize.
Then, you know, he made very few unforced errors, he served
well. And in the end, you know, he played too good at the
end of the match. And, you know, there was only a couple of
points here and there when I ended up losing my service games
in the second or third set that cost me the match.
Q. He's a lot different than most of these guys you have to face. Is there any
transition you have to make going from Marat to him?
LLEYTON HEWITT: It will be a totally different match. Obviously the power
play of Marat compared to Fabrice's , you know, finesse
around the court and great movement and, you know, using
the angles a lot more and that kind. So, yeah, it is a
different kind of matchup if I'm playing him.
Q. Can you talk about Tommy as well.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. Well, Tommy , obviously, his favorite surface is clay,
but he's got a good hard court game. He's an aggressive
baseline player. And, yeah, he's done well on hard court in
the past. He's had good wins this week against Ferrero ,
who's a good hard court player, and also Rusedski . So he's
handling the conditions well, so...
Q. Would he give you more power to feed off than Fabrice would?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Robredo would, yeah. But, you know, he hits the ball a lot
heavier, too, with a lot more spin off both sides. Fabrice is,
you know, more an allcourt player but a lot more finesse and
angles.
Q. You had 13 winners today, 13 unforced errors. Was it a matter of just
trying to get the ball back?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, playing Marat , just try and make him play that one
extra shot, I guess, with my game against him, and try and
move him around as much as possible. He likes dictating play.
So there's, you know every time I play him, he's going to
have more winners but he's going to have more unforced errors,
too. That's just the way our games match up.
Q. Any point or game that you felt the match turned on?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not really. Obviously, when I went up a break early in the
first set, you know, that helped because I just had the
momentum then. I could have broken again at 53 that second
time at the end of the first set; wasn't able to do it. He
came up with a big serve.
And in the second set, you know, I broke him early again.
So I always was, you know, that one game, one, two games
ahead all the time holding that break. It's just a matter
of trying to hold serve from then on.
Q. You broke him right after he argued. Did you feel like that's a point that
would be a good time to do it, because he was frustrated?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Didn't really come into my mind that that was a good time.
I just try to take my opportunities, you know, when I get
second serves against him. Obviously if he's pounding big
first serves, he's always going to have that first hit and
really be able to attack that first shot that's if I get
the ball back.
So, you know, if I got into a rally, I just felt like, you
know, that was my opportunity there.
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