Roddick Goes Through After Epic Match

Such are the fluctuations in the weather during the summer months here that the old joke is that Melbourne experiences four seasons in any one day. Make that four seasons in any one match after Andy Roddick defeated Younes El Aynaoui 4-6, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, 21-19 in the last of the men's quarter-finals yesterday, a stupendous match which lasted one minute short of five hours.

Winter, spring, summer and fall appeared to pass by in an contest of extraordinary intensity and quality, with the fifth set breaking all open-era records. Three years ago at Wimbledon Mark Philippoussis defeated Sjeng Schalken 20-18 in the fifth. But that was in the third round whereas on this occasion, which made it all the more remarkable, El Aynaoui and Roddick were straining every sinew and limb to reach their first grand slam semi-final. The real winner may turn out to be Germany's Rainer Schüttler, who much earlier defeated Argentina's David Nalbandian 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 and plays Roddick tomorrow for a place in Sunday's final. Schüttler, like last year's unlikely winner, Thomas Johansson of Sweden, has seemingly sneaked in from nowhere, but he is super-fit and will surely have watched the fifth set, which itself lasted 2hr 23 min, with a huge smile.

Roddick and El Aynaoui slugged away at each other during the final hour like men in a dream, desperately forcing themselves to keep going while their bodies were screaming at them to stop. The Moroccan, 31, is 11 years older than Roddick, and maintained a wonderfully calm and dignified presence throughout while the histrionic young American raged against line-calls and lambasted the umpire, Pascal Maria of France.

"You know the thing that supports your back, it's called a spine," screamed Roddick. This after Maria, quite rightly, had refused to make an over-rule at the end of the third set when Roddick's forehand drive-volley appeared to clip the line and was called out, thereby giving El Aynaoui a 2-1 setslead. And the rant continued into the fifth set.

Small wonder, perhaps: Roddick, the youngest player in the top 10, had survived a match point with the score at 4-5 in the fifth set and then failed to serve out at 11-10. He needed to keep complaining to maintain his momentum because El Aynaoui, who in the previous round defeated Lleyton Hewitt, played even better tennis than in that match.

This is not to say Roddick used gamesmanship. It was a contest fought in the best spirit and the end, at 1am local time, they clasped each other like long-lost brothers. "Younes is a class act and I'm extremely humbled by this victory," said Roddick. "It was really special playing in that fifth set, and the crowd were fantastic, keeping us both on our feet."

Those who had doubted Roddick's mental fortitude will have to think again. In his previous match he had come back from two sets and a break of serve down to defeat Russia's Mikhail Youzhny in five, but yesterday's victory was something else. Without a doubt it was the most impressive match the American has played and, although his finesse is not of the highest quality and his double-fisted backhand is frequently an ugly, vulnerable stroke, he achieved admirable consistency under fierce pressure.

The Americans have been desperately looking for a successor to Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi and for the first time Roddick gave genuine notice he may follow in their steps. At least nobody can now hint that he lacks fight.

Both served brilliantly, Roddick delivering 27 aces and El Aynaoui 25. More extraordinarily, both hit more than 100 winners. The Moroccan always possessed the greater grace and style, but Roddick's full-throttle, raw power rarely wavered, and they conjured numerous rallies of breathtaking variety and rich excitement. Right to the end, when El Aynaoui's tiredness got the better of him, it was impossible to guess who would win.

Had it been El Aynaoui, three of the four semi-finalists, including Agassi and South Africa's Wayne Ferreira, would have been thirtysomething. That has never happened in the open era. But Roddick finally struck a blow for youth, though whether it will be telling depends on him having anything left in the tank after two successive five-set matches.

It would be a terrible anti-climax for him if he lost to Schüttler. But the 26-year-old German, ranked No36, who freely admits he has none of the charisma or ability of Boris Becker, is exceptionally quick and full of confidence. He benefited greatly from a walkover against Marat Safin, the No3 seed, in the fourth round and has seized the moment. Roddick knows it will be tough, but the prize is huge.

Last-set marathons

Australian Open 2003 A Roddick bt Y El Aynaoui 21-19

Wimbledon 2000 M Philippoussis bt S Schalken 20-18

Wimbledon 1997 P MacNamee bt T Nelson 19-17

Wimbledon 1975 T Svensson bt J Andrews 18-16

Wimbledon 1975 P Gerken by J E Mandarino 17-15

Australian Open 1988 Y Noah bt R Smith 16-14

Wimbledon 1977 W McNair bt N Saviano 16-14

Wimbledon 1988 D Rostagno bt M Davis 16-14

Wimbledon 1992 J Hlasek bt P Korda 16-14

Australian Open 1985 B Teacher bt K Evernden 15-13