FORMER NO. 1 HEWITT SETTLES FOR FIGHTING FOE ACROSS THE NET.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

Without his old No. 1 form, Lleyton Hewitt reached this afternoon's final of the Mercedes-Benz Cup at UCLA by putting his fighter's instinct to its best use, meaning that Saturday he wasn't battling the chair umpire or the linesmen or the tour officials or the media or his coach.

``When I was playing too aggressively,'' Nicolas Kiefer said after Hewitt beat him 6-2, 6-4 in the first semifinal, ``he was a very good counter- puncher.''

Kiefer attacked the net early, and Hewitt earned the match's first service break with a forehand passing shot. Kiefer swung and just missed a winner that would have given him life in the first set, and Hewitt took advantage with his sharpest serve, a 118-mph ace to wrap up a pivotal game. Kiefer jabbed, attempting a drop shot, and Hewitt punished the short floater, whipping an inside-out forehand to put himself a point from the set.

The match was in hand for Hewitt before he let loose his only audible outburst of the afternoon, a screaming ``Aaaaagh!'' when he blew a backhand after a Kiefer mishit at 5-3 in the second.

It is often not this way with Hewitt, the 22-year-old Australian who will face Wayne Ferreira today in the Mercedes-Benz Cup final, seeking a title that would constitute a successful comeback from his Wimbledon first-round loss, a good first tuneup for the U.S. Open and a modest step toward regaining his No. 1 ranking.

On Friday, Hewitt abused both racket and umpire during his quarterfinal victory over Kenneth Carlsen, bouncing the former on the court and berating the latter (``Open your mouth!'') for failing to overrule a linesman's call during Carlsen's first-set tiebreaker win.

Earlier in the week, Hewitt cut short a postmatch media session after a verbal standoff with an Australian newspaper reporter who had the temerity to ask a general question about his Grand Slam disappointments this season.

``I spoke about that yesterday,'' Hewitt answered, referring to an earlier news conference. ``I'm not going through that again.''

``I wasn't here yesterday,'' the writer from The Australian explained.

``You'll have to get the press release,'' Hewitt said.

``There wasn't a press release,'' the writer said.

``Not my fault,'' Hewitt said.

Every time he displays this personality, as hard as the Los Angeles Tennis Center courts, he reminds the world of the more tempestuous moments of his rise to the 2001 U.S. Open championship, the 2002 Wimbledon title and the No. 1 ranking.

He is the player who survived charges of racism after the incident at the 2001 Open when he demanded the removal of linesman Marion Johnson, who is black, after a pair of foot-fault calls that favored opponent James Blake, who is black. Look at Johnson and Blake, Hewitt told the umpire, ``and you tell me what the similarity is.'' Hewitt offered the ridiculous explanation that he was commenting on the similarity between the calls, not the men, and tour officials let him off without a fine.

``He has this me-against-the-world attitude that makes him play better,'' a charitable Blake said of Hewitt. ``That's how he gets pumped up.''

Pete Sampras helped with the positive spin on Hewitt's behavior: ``... Every time I've seen him, he's always been nice and courteous. When he goes out there and competes, he's like a different guy.''

He is the player who was fined $1,000 during the 2001 French Open - out of that year's $4,045,618 in earnings - for calling umpire Andreas Egli ``spastic.''

And he is the player who was fined $20,000 after the 2002 Cincinnati tournament for breaking ATP Tour requirements by refusing to do a prematch interview with ESPN.

The Cincinnati punishment contributed to Hewitt's vocal support for the movement toward a union that would help players deal with ATP officials.

When you are tennis' best player, what you do and say is watched closely.

When you were on top and you tumble, the scrutiny is just as harsh.

After his loss to qualifier Ivo Karlovic at Wimbledon, Hewitt took three weeks off from competition to practice and train in his girlfriend Kim Clijsters' native Belgium, preparing for an upcoming busy stretch and leaving observers to analyze his fall to the No. 5 ranking.

Are his coaches to blame, Roger Rasheed following Darren Cahill and Jason Stoltenberg? Are his ever-present parents?

``All of a sudden people are saying there's something wrong with him,'' said fellow Australian Mark Philippoussis, who lost to Ferreira in Saturday's other semifinal. ``Give the guy a break. So he goes from 1 to 5. Five is a pretty good ranking.''

Hewitt says he's concentrating on winning Grand Slams, even if skipping a few every-week tournaments hurts his ranking, and has his sights on regaining his U.S. Open title beginning Aug. 25. According to one British oddsmaker, he is a 9-2 co-favorite - with Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Roger Federer - to win in New York.

To win, Hewitt will have to improve on Saturday's victory over an erratic German who needed treatment for foot blisters after the first game and got the worst of the calls.

``He's not at the top level so far,'' said Kiefer, ranked 75th. ``But still it was good enough to beat me.''

Hewitt fought the good fight this time.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Lleyton Hewitt, pictured, reached the final of the Mercedes-Benz Cup by beating Nicolas Kiefer 6-2, 6-4 at UCLA on Saturday.

(2) Nicolas Kiefer, who needed treatment for foot blisters after the first game, reacts to a missed shot during his semifinal loss Saturday.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer