LONDON, 12 June 2003 — A sluggish Lleyton Hewitt narrowly survived a second-round exit at the Stella Artois Championships yesterday, pushed all the way before beating Dutchman Raemon Sluiter 7-6, 3-6, 7-6.
Rudderless after severing ties with his coach Jason Stoltenberg during the French Open last week, Hewitt struggled throughout on the slick Queen’s Club grass as he barely kept alive his hopes of a fourth successive title. It was not the preparation Hewitt wanted before the defense of his Wimbledon crown later this month, and must have taken a little bit of the shine off the ATP Player of the Year award he received on court at the end of the match.
Hewitt had lost his only other match against Sluiter, the world number 63 who hits double-handed off both wings, going down in Stockholm last November.
The Australian’s 49-9 grass court career mark was of little use to him as he went nearly two and a half sets without a break point against the Dutchman after breaking to start the match in the first game.
Hewitt got into more trouble to start the second, dropping serve and repeating that mishap in the final game.
He went up a break in the seventh game of the third set, but lost the edge for 5-all from a sloppy forehand hit off his heel.
Australian teenager Todd Reid, a fast-rising number 279, showed up his senior compatriot as he ousted American tenth seed Jan-Michael Gambill 6-1, 7-5.
Sixth seed Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands went through into the third round without even trying as Todd Martin pulled out before their match with a previously suffered chest muscle pull which is likely to keep the 32-year-old form Wimbledon. Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, seeded eighth, defeated Swiss Michel Kratochvil 6-3, 6-4. Kratochvil underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in the spring and is playing in only his third event since returning. But Helvetic Davis Cup player-captain Marc Rosset surprised Finnish ninth seed Jarkko Nieminen, coming back in both sets to duplicate his best tournament showing from 1995 with a place in the third round, 7-5, 7-5.
The 11th-seeded Taylor Dent won an all-American clash 6-4, 6-4 over Cecil Mamiit. Greg Rusedski came through victorious as he knocked Morocco’s Hicham Arazi 6-4, 6-4 in a 66-minute decision.
Schuettler’s Title Hopes
Ended in Halle
Rainer Schuettler’s hopes of a first title on home soil ended yesterday when he lost to Czech Radek Stepanek in the Halle Open second round.
The second-seeded German saved two match points to force the match into a deciding set, but Stepanek recovered to clinch a 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 victory.
Stepanek, who came into the event with a career-high ranking of 40, plays another home favourite, Nicolas Kiefer, in the quarterfinals. The Czech displayed a range of grasscourt skills and seemed on the verge of a straight-sets victory when leading a second-set tiebreak 6-4.
However, two nervy errors allowed Schuettler back into the match and he took advantage to level at one set apiece.
The third set hinged on one break of serve in the sixth game and it was Stepanek who grabbed it, and this time he held on for victory. Kiefer earlier edged out Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in a tense match to reach his first quarterfinal of the year.
The German, who has slipped down to 73rd in the rankings, battled to a 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 victory - the first time he has won back-to-back matches since October.
Kiefer, a former Halle champion and runner-up to Yevgeny Kafelnikov last year, raced through the opening set with some superb grasscourt play. But Lopez, who upset seventh seed Nikolay Davydenko in the first round, then found his range on serve to take the second set with one break.
Kiefer had to save three break points in the seventh game of the decider and went on to punish Lopez for a sloppy service game.
Jiri Novak and Mikhail Youzhny will meet in the quarterfinals after enjoying comfortable second-round victories. Third seed Novak was impressive as he dismissed Austrian Stefan Koubek 6-4, 6-3.
Mikhail Youzhny, seeded six, enjoyed a convincing 6-4, 7-5 victory over Swede Jonas Bjorkman. In a first round match held over from Tuesday because of rain, Frenchman Fabrice Santoro beat American Brian Vahaly 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
