ROTTERDAM, 19 February 2004 — Former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt brushed aside a tired Fernando Gonzalez 6-2, 6-1 yesterday to reach the second round of the World Indoor Tournament.

Defending champion Max Mirnyi from Belarus saved a match point before overcoming Armenia’s Sargis Sargsian 6-7, 7-6, 6-1.

Australian Hewitt eased through in 55 minutes against Gonzalez who only arrived in Rotterdam on Tuesday following his victory over Gustavo Kuerten in the final of the Vina del Mar Open in Chile at the weekend.

Australia’s Davis Cup defeat by Sweden earlier this month when the holders suffered a 4-1 reverse is still playing on Hewitt’s mind.

“For the fans it is hard to imagine that within two months after you won that prestigious cup you’ve lost it already,” Hewitt said in a swipe at the International Tennis Federation’s match schedule.

Third seed Rainer Schuettler reached the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Radek Stepanek while Tomas Cakl of the Czech Republic surprised experienced Swede Jonas Bjorkman 7-6, 7-6 in a first round encounter.

Brilliant Clijsters Sparkles

at Diamond Games

In Brussels, Kim Clijsters got her Antwerp Diamond Games bid off to a solid start yesterday, brushing aside Spain’s Aranxta Parra 6-3, 6-2 to reach the third round.

The Belgian second seed, who had a bye in round one, clinched victory on her third match point and was full of praise for her opponent. “She is Spanish but does not play like your usual Spanish player... she has a great serve and is very aggressive,” the Belgian said. “To win against her was not easy, believe me”.

Instead of conserving her energy, Clijsters will play with younger sister Elke in the doubles today. But the world No. 2 insists their match against France’s Emilie Loit and Hungarian Petra Mandula will not affect her bid for the singles title.

Earlier yesterday, Ukraine’s Julia Vakulenko thrashed Alexandra Stevenson of the United States 6-3, 6-1 and Czech Klara Koukalova ousted Russia’s Dinara Safina 6-4, 7-6.

Gambill Dumps Defending

Champ Dent in First Round

In Memphis, Tennessee, Jan-Michael Gambill dumped defending champion Taylor Dent 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 at the $880,000 ATP and WTA tennis tournament Tuesday, avenging a second-round defeat in this event last year.

Gambill broke the third-seeded Dent’s serve three times during the match before wrapping up the victory over is fellow American in 1 hour, 17 minutes.

“It’s always great to beat somebody you’ve had trouble with in the past,” said Gambill. “I lost to him at Wimbledon in a not-so-close match, and here in two tie-breaks, so today, going into another tie-break, I pushed a forehand volley early on, and he did the same thing on set point. But I’m playing better tennis, I’m getting better with every match I play, I’m a lot more relaxed, which is something I’ve been working on.”

In the second set, Gambill broke to lead 4-2 and, after three consecutive love service games of his own, held for the win.

Seventh-seeded German Nicolas Kiefer defeated US qualifier Eric Taino 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, advancing to a clash with Austrian Jurgen Melzer, who downed American Brian Vahaly in straight sets. Dmitry Tursunov, the 21-year-old US-based Russian reached the second round with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory over Belgian Christophe Rochus. He now meets South African veteran Wayne Ferreira, the seventh seed who beat US doubles specialist Bob Bryan 7-6 (10-8), 6-3.

In women’s action, top seed Vera Zvonareva booked a quarterfinal berth with a 6-1, 7-5 second-round victory over Italy’s Tathiana Garbin.

Sixth-seeded American Amy Frazier also reached the quarters with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Russian Alina Jidkova in the day’s other second-round match.

Third seed Maria Sharapova reached the second round with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Spain’s Conchita Martinez Granados.

The Russian, who at 16 is the youngest player in the tournament, was playing against the Spaniard for the second time this year having defeated her in the first round of the Australian Open.