Hewitt through, rain suspends others semifinals

Greg Heakes, Agence France-Presse, Indian Wells, California

World number one Lleyton Hewitt's march towards a second straight Indian Wells ATP Masters Series title continued unabated, while rain forced suspension of Saturday's other semifinals.

"I have been getting better with every match," said Hewitt, who is trying to become the first back-to-back winner at Indian Wells since Michael Chang in 1996-1997. "I feel like I am getting my rhythm on the court a lot better than earlier in the week."

The 22-year-old Australian beat Vincent Spadea 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 to reach his second ATP final in as many weeks and book a date with either three-time Roland Garros champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil or 15th-seeded Rainer Schuettler of Germany.

Kuerten and Schuettler played for 35 minutes before their match was suspended because of rain with Kuerten leading 6-2, 0- 1.

The semifinals would be completed Sunday morning with the final scheduled for about 12 noon of the day.

The women's final between top seed Kim Clijsters and American Lindsay Davenport will follow the men's semifinals in the main stadium.

Under cloudy skies that threatened rain, Hewitt closed out the 96-minute match against Spadea with a volley at the net that caught the line. He needed just 31 minutes to win the second set.

Hewitt, a semifinalist for the third-straight year, served at 56 percent and broke Spadea's served three times. He hammered 28 winners.

Hewitt won the first set when Spadea double faulted on the final point of a tiebreaker. He took control in the second set using his superior groundstrokes to move Spadea around the court at will.

The Australian has dominated his series with Spadea to go 3-0. He beat Spadea in straight sets in their last meeting four years ago in Lyon, France.

Spadea got off to a better start this time, jumping out to a 4-1 lead in the first set before Hewitt rallied to tie it 4-4, breaking Spadea in the seventh game.

Kuerten, 26, is in his first Indian Wells semifinals since 1999. He controlled the first set, serving 65 percent, hitting six aces and breaking Schuettler's serve three times.

Kuerten also had 12 winners while Schuettler committed 16 unforced errors.