Day 6 at the Australian Open was a long, long journey. About one-third of the 15,000 people with tickets for the Saturday night session didn’t leave until Hewitt smacked a forehand past Marcos Baghdatis at 4:33 a.m. Sunday local time.
Federer needed 4 hours, 27 minutes to beat 49th-ranked Janko Tipsarevic 6-7 (5), 7-6 (1), 5-7, 6-1, 10-8 in an extended afternoon match that pushed back the night session at least two hours.
Switzerland’s Federer had won 30 straight sets at Melbourne Park since he dropped the first in the 2006 final against Baghdatis. He had lost only six games in his first two matches this year.
“It’s not such a relief - it’s more happiness,” Federer told the crowd at Rod Laver Arena, where he has won the last two Australian titles and three overall. “I’m happy I could deliver a five-set thriller. It was good to be part of something like this.”
Women’s top seed Justine Henin decided she didn’t want to work overtime.
She beat Hsieh Su-wei, the first Taiwanese player in the fourth round of a Grand Slam event, 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday to advance to the quarterfinals.
Henin, riding a 32-match winning streak that goes back to the Wimbledon semifinals, will play the Maria Sharapova-Elena Dementieva winner.
David Nalbandian and Juan Carlos Ferrero stepped back on the same court to begin the Sunday schedule little more than 6 hours after Hewitt and Baghdatis walked off.
Former No. 1 Ferrero beat 10th-seeded Nalbandian 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in a third-round match postponed by rain Saturday. In another third-rounder, No. 5 David Ferrer beat Vincent Spadea 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. Ferrero will play Ferrer in the fourth round.
Wedged between the epic five-setters Saturday, No. 8 seed Venus Williams finished off Sania Mirza 7-6 (0), 6-4 after declining an invitation to either postpone that match or move to Vodafone Arena, the other stadium with a roof.
So when Australian Hewitt tossed the ball up for his first serve it was 11:47 p.m. - the latest start for a singles match in the Australian Open. He broke Baghdatis on his fifth match point 4:45 later to win 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-3.
“Obviously, an incredible day of tennis,” Hewitt said, sounding hoarse and tired. “I mean, for Roger Federer to go five sets - how often does that happen?”
Hewitt joked that his 2-year-old daughter, Mia, would be awake and ready to play when he got back to his apartment. He will play No. 3 Novak Djokovic, who ousted Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 to leave James Blake as the best U.S. hope.
Blake rallied from two sets down and then a double-break in the fourth to beat France’s Sebastien Grosjean 4-6, 2-6, 6-0, 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Next for him is 6-5 Marin Cilic, a 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-1 winner over last year’s losing finalist, Fernando Gonzalez.
In fourth-round matches Sunday, No. 2 Nadal faced Paul-Henri Mathieu, Frenchmen Richard Gasquet met Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber, who upset Andy Roddick in the third round, played Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen. No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko and No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny met in a match between Russians.
Defending Australian Open champion Serena Williams battled Nicole Vaidisova on Sunday in a rematch of last year’s semifinals.
Federer said his five-setter would give him a good idea of where he stands as he bids to make an 11th consecutive Grand Slam final. A title would move him within one of Pete Sampras’ record 14 majors.
“I don’t have them often, except at Wimbledon against Nadal,” said Federer, who needed every one of his personal-best 39 aces to fend off Tipsarevic, the 2001 Australian Open junior champion. “So it’s good.”
In 35 majors, Federer is 9-4 in five-set matches. His last five-set match at Melbourne, a semifinal defeat to Marat Safin in 2005, broke up his titles in 2004, ’06 and ’07.
Federer said he feared another early exit when he missed some chances, starting with a shot while serving for the first set at 5-3.
“All the opportunities missed put me in a lot of pressure,” Federer said. “I was back against the wall and I was playing a guy who’s confident and believes in his chance. But I tried to sort of block that out.”
Hewitt wasted chances, including a match point in the fourth set’s eighth game.
After letting a 5-1 lead slip in the fourth, Hewitt ensured he’d pass the record for the latest finishing match at a major when he held for a 6-5 lead at 3:34 a.m.
He broke Baghdatis twice in the fifth, the second after the Cypriot saved triple match point and was laughing almost deliriously with each.
Baghdatis just missed becoming the first man at the Australian Open to beat three Grand Slam champions in consecutive rounds. He opened with wins over two former Australian champions - Thomas Johansson (2002) and Safin.
Hewitt ranked the win among his best in a career that includes U.S. Open and Wimbledon titles.
“Tonight is definitely up there,” he said. “He hasn’t had an easy draw to get through at all. He’s a tough guy to finish off.”
