Lleyton Hewitt, who seems to feed off controversy and adversity, endured 31 aces to beat second-seeded Andy Roddick 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-1 Friday and advance to the Australian Open final.
Third-ranked Hewitt fired up the crowd, which was too vocal for Roddick's tastes -- he complained about fans shouting during his service motion.
Trying to become the first Australian man to win here since Mark Edmondson in 1976, Hewitt advanced to tomorrow's first-ever evening men's final, against fourth-seeded Marat Safin in a matchup of former top-ranked players. Safin ended top-ranked Roger Federer's 26-match winning streak in the other semifinal.
Hewitt has won major titles at Wimbledon in 2002 and the US Open in 2001. Safin won the 2000 US Open and has lost two previous finals here at Melbourne Park, including last year against Federer.
"Always said I'd do anything to have chance to play in the first night final here in history, and I've got my chance," Hewitt said. "Obviously, Marat's beaten the best player going around. He's playing extremely well. I'm going to have to raise my level yet again and see what happens."
The women's final pits top-ranked Lindsay Davenport against No. 7 Serena Williams on Saturday.
Roddick came out hot, jumping ahead at 2-0. He converted his fourth breakpoint opportunity when Hewitt hit long on a forehand from Roddick that was called good but TV replays indicated was just long.
As he has done so often, Roddick relied on his blistering serve to get out of early trouble. He had six aces as he served at 5-3, using them to fend off four of Hewitt's five break points in the game, then finish off the set with another two.
Roddick made it seven aces in a row with four in the next game. But Hewitt had only three unforced errors in the second set, which saw the first appearance of his trademark "Come on!" while pointing his fingers at his forehead in the 16th game -- much later that usual.
Hewitt still needed a tiebreaker -- Roddick had won all three that they had played despite's the Australian's 4-1 record in head-to-head meetings -- to even the match. Hewitt had the only ace to pull ahead 6-3, and Roddick netted a backhand on the next point.
After cracking 23 aces in the first two sets, Roddick had only eight in the last two.
"It's never routine, especially playing a guy like Andy," Hewitt said. "He's got so much firepower, and I had to weather the storm."
Roddick went ahead in the third set when Hewitt double-faulted at break point. But serving at 4-2, 30-30, Roddick -- clearly trying to put a little extra on his second serve -- double-faulted twice to return the favor. He had only six double-faults in the previous five matches, but had nine against Hewitt.
At the changeover, Roddick complained to chair umpire Andrea Egli about fans calling out during his service motion.
When Egli indicated he couldn't control everyone in the crowd, Roddick responded: "You're telling me I can have someone shout during every one of his serves and you can't do anything about it?"
He complained again in the next game after someone shouted as he served at 40-0 after his 27th ace.
Another tiebreaker, and Hewitt peaked at the right time again. From 4-4, he ran off the last three points, the last a backhand crosscourt pass. Hewitt leaned low and pumped his fist three times with another "Come on!'"
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