SYDNEY, Nov 17: Lleyton Hewitt celebrated his meteoric rise to world number one by beating Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4 6-3 on Saturday to reach the season-ending Masters Cup final.

The Australian, who became the youngest player in history to reach the number one ranking when he beat Patrick Rafter on Friday, will meet Sebastien Grosjean in Sunday’s best-of-five-set final after the Frenchman defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-4 6-2.

Despite suffering from a groin strain that almost forced him to pull out of the match, the 20-year-old Hewitt was far too quick and athletic for his Spanish opponent, breaking him four times to seal victory in an hour-and-a-half.

The U.S. Open champion saved two break points in the fourth game before breaking Ferrero in the following game on his way to taking the first set in 46 minutes.

With the backing of a near-capacity crowd at Sydney’s SuperDome, the venue for gymnastics and basketball at last year’s Olympics, Hewitt raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set before Ferrero staged a late rally.

The Spanish baseliner broke Hewitt for the first time as he won three games in a row to pull back to 3-4 but Hewitt quickly snuffed out his hopes of a turnaround as he closed out the match, breaking Ferrero’s serve with a cross-court forehand winner.

Hewitt said he almost did not make it on court because of his groin problem but was confident he would be able to play the final.

“I didn’t give myself that much of a chance of finishing the match when I went out there...but I just tried to play attacking tennis and forget about it,” Hewitt said.

“There’s a good chance I’m not going to be 100 per cent for the final but I’m just going to have to try and fight through it.

“If I win or lose it’s no big deal. For me, to win my first grand slam and finish the year as the world number one and give myself a chance to win this championship and the Davis Cup...I couldn’t want a much better year.”

Australia host France in the Davis Cup final in Melbourne from November 30 to December 2.

Ferrero, who had the unusual experience of playing then world number one Gustavo Kuerten in the round-robin phase only to meet the new number one in the semifinals, predicted that Grosjean would win the final if Hewitt’s injury did not improve.

“I think if it is a long match, it will be hard for Hewitt,” Ferrero said. “It will be difficult because it is the best of five sets and Grosjean is playing very well.”

Grosjean needed just 69 minutes to book his place in the final against an error-prone Kafelnikov in Saturday’s first semifinal.

The Frenchman only just sneaked into the elite eight-man Masters Cup field when he won the Masters series in Paris a fortnight ago, defeating Kafelnikov along the way, but is in the best form of his career.

“I’ve been playing great tennis for the past three weeks and I’m confident about my next match,” Grosjean said.

“It’s going to be tough, I’m playing the number one here in Sydney but I have nothing to lose.”

Grosjean lost his opening match of the tournament against Hewitt but has not dropped a set since, beating Rafter and Andre Agassi to qualify for the semifinals.

He broke Kafelnikov in the fifth game and held on to take the first set after just 39 minutes, despite failing to convert his first four set points.

The pair traded breaks to reach 2-2 in the second set before Grosjean won the last four games on the trot as Kafelnikov’s game started to unravel.

The Russian, who won gold at last year’s Sydney Olympics, made 27 unforced errors and dropped serve four times to concede defeat in his final match for the year.

“He played very well but he was obviously playing without any pressure,” a dejected Kafelnikov said.

“He was just going for every shot and not defending himself like I have to all the time.

“But it’s not all bad, I’ll probably going skiing now, I think I deserve that period of time for myself.”—Reuters