INDIAN WELLS (California), March 16: World number one and defending champion Lleyton Hewitt overwhelmed American qualifier Vince Spadea 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 to move into the final of the Pacific Life Open on Saturday.

The Australian had to come back from a 4-1 deficit in the first set to beat Spadea who was prepared to slug it out with Hewitt from the baseline.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Semifinals: 1-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) beat Vince Spadea (U.S) 7-6 (7-5) 6-1; Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil) leads 15-Rainer Schuettler (Germany) 6-2 0-1 (rain stopped play, resumes Sunday)—Reuters