LONDON: Something about the lawns of London bring out the very best in Australian veteran Lleyton Hewitt and he gave another glimpse of the grasscourt arts on Friday to beat third seed Juan Martin del Potro in the quarterfinals of the Aegon Championships.
The 32-year-old mixed skidding slices, sharp volleys and accurate serving to keep the powerful Del Potro under wraps in a 6-2 2-6 6-2 victory on a sun-splashed center court at Queen’s Club, ending the match at a gallop.
The former Wimbledon champion and world number one and four-times Queen’s Club winner will face Croatia’s Marin Cilic in the last four after the defending champion beat second seed Tomas Berdych 7-5 7-6(4).
Top seed Andy Murray continued his quest for a third Queen’s title with a 6-4 7-6(3) defeat of Germany’s Benjamin Becker.
Murray trailed 4-2 in the second set but found an extra gear to subdue the 31-year-old and clinch a semifinal against either France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or 20-year-old American Denis Kudla.
Hewitt, bidding to become the oldest player to win the traditional pre-Wimbledon warm-up tournament, faltered in the second set as giant Argentine Del Potro began to let rip with some thumping groundstrokes.
But the unseeded Australian took charge in the fourth game of the decider, breaking Del Potro to love and then holding to love to establish a 4-1 lead before cruising to victory.
“I was a bit scratchy in the first match and haven’t really put a foot wrong since,” Hewitt, who is second only to Roger Federer for match wins on grass amongst active players, told reporters. “The second set he played incredible tennis.”
Hewitt has been plagued by hip, foot and ankle injuries in recent years, is 82nd in the world rankings but remains a class act, especially on grass.
“I love playing as many weeks on grass as possible,” said the father of three.
“Yeah, that’s why the Olympics and playing Newport last year was so special to me because I could play a bigger chunk of tournaments. I think it’s a unique surface.
“There are certain players that play really well on it.”
Hewitt rolls back years to beat Del Potro
