Points won by each set: | 45-40, 37-42, 44-38 |
Points won directly behind the serve:
19 % Hewitt – 26 of 132
18 % Federer – 21 of 114
That match gave a hope that these two 21-year-old players would have a fascinating rivarly in the future because in the initial stages of their careers, Hewitt [1] had been much better. Prior to that match he led 5:2 in H2H, and for him it was already a third participation at “Masters” while for Federer [6] it was a debut. The years 2004-2005 totally rewrote the script of their rivarly, not only Federer won their nine successive meetings – he won them all not being even close to defeat!
The Shanghai semifinal was great & crazy (the first thee-hour ‘best of three’ match in the tournament history), every set could have gone either way. Hewitt [1] was at the top of the wolrd, extremely self-confident finishing the second straight year as the best player, while Federer [6] was on his way to find a perfect balance between his attacking & defensive styles. The Swiss led 5:2* in the opener, he had a set point serving at 5:3 (FH error) and another four set points at 5:4 (Hewitt saved three of them with winners); in the decider he wasted two mini-match points at 4:3 making two errors on the backhand side… instead Hewitt blew a 2:0* (40/30) lead in the 2nd set, 5:3* and match point at 5:4. In the 3rd set he had a match point on serve at 5:4 again when committed a double fault. At 5-all Federer played perhaps one of his worst service games in career; first at 0/15 he lost a point at the net he should have won, then committed two straight double faults. Hewitt converted his fourth match point in the following game.