HAMBURG, Germany, 15 May 2003 — Lleyton Hewitt claimed his second nailbiting victory in two days when he edged past Arnaud Clement of France 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 to reach the third round of the Hamburg Masters.
It took the Australian world number one more than three and a half hours to squeeze out the victory, which followed a two hour 22 minute battle on Tuesday against German wild card Markus Hantschk.
“I’m trying to make my three set matches into five-setters so I’ve got good preparation for the French Open (later this month),” Hewitt said. “There were times in the match I didn’t feel I played my best tennis, but I felt like I fought really hard and I came up with some big points at the right time,” he added. Hewitt, struggling against the heavy conditions, dropped the first five games before staging a remarkable comeback that almost earned him the set.
He pulled back to 5-5 and held off six set points before leading the tiebreak 7-6. But a netted forehand cost him his chance and a perfect drop volley from Clement gave the Frenchman the set.
Hewitt fought back in the second set to lead 5-0 before Clement pulled back to 5-4, but then dropped his serve a third time to give Hewitt the set. In a dramatic finale, Clement broke serve with a superb forehand crosscourt pass to lead 5-4 and serve for victory, but Hewitt responded by breaking serve. In the tiebreak, Hewitt recovered from 3-5 and eventually closed out the match on his second match point.
In other matches, French Open champion and number five seed Albert Costa of Spain was upset 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 by Belgium’s Olivier Rochus, and 10th seeded Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean was beaten 6-0, 3-6, 6-2 by Britain’s Tim Henman.
Tommy Robredo of Spain, seeded 14, slumped 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 to Argentina’s Mariano Zabaleta, but seeds that did progress included Argentina’s David Nalbandian and Guillermo Coria, Germany’s Rainer Schuettler, Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten and Fernando Gonzalez of Chile.
Clijsters, Capriati Rip to Rome Wins
In Rome, second seeded Kim Clijsters and number five Jennifer Capriati thrashed opponents with ease yesterday as both made winning 2003 debuts at the $1.3-million Italian Masters.
Clijsters had plenty of time for dinner after hammering Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual in the evening session, drumming out a rapid 6-1, 6-0 rout to reach the third round after a bye.
The Belgian second seed, beaten in the weekend final at Berlin by compatriot Justine Henin-Hardenne, next plays Cara Black.
Clijsters needed little more than half an hour to inflict the embarrassment on her 29-year-old opponent, who reached the 2002 quarterfinals as a qualifier.
Italian-American Capriati made a tenth tennis return to the homeland of her father, earning a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Fabiola Zuluaga. Capriati, 27, and her father-coach Stefano, who grew up in southern Italy, go back a long way in Rome, with Capriati making her debut as a young teenager in 1990, a few weeks after her 14th birthday.
For the right-hander, spring on the European clay is what her tennis is all about. It was only two years ago that she won the title at the French Open during the season of her life.
Two-time winner Monica Seles was seeking her own purpose after quitting her second-round contest with a foot injury 6-3, 4-1 against Russian Nadia Petrova, the world number 88. Seles, a 29-year-old with nine Grand Slam trophies, was unable to continue against the 20-year-old world number 88 playing for the third time here.
Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova produced another upset, ousting 12th-seeded Greek Eleni Daniilidou 6-3, 6-2.
The remainder of the big names enjoyed victories in the spring sun.
France’s Amelie Mauresmo, the number 4 who lost Rome finals in 2002 to Seles and a year later to Jelena Dokic, advanced over Russian Lina Krasnoroutskaya 6-2, 7-6 (7-5). Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, seeded seventh, beat Spain’s consistent Magui Serna 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 6-4 to advance after the first-round bye given to all eight seeds.
Russian No. 8 Anastasia Myskina stopped Maja Matevzic of Slovenia 6-2, 6-3 while Japan’s No. 13 Ai Sugiyama beat Dinara Safina, younger sister of Marat Safin, 6-0, 2-6, 6-4.
