HAMBURG, 13 May 2004 — Lleyton Hewitt saved nine set points in his fight from 5-1 down in the second set to a remarkable 6-4, 7-5 victory over local hero Tommy Haas in the second round of the 2.495-million euros Hamburg Masters Series yesterday.
Former world No. 1 Hewitt saved three set points each in the seventh, ninth and 10th game of the set as he silenced the crowd and frustrated Haas.
The Aussie served out the match at love in the 12th game after 1 hour 45 minutes for his fifth victory in the ninth meeting with Haas.
In other action, title holder and 2 seed Guillermo Coria of Argentina stretched his unbeaten clay court run to 28-0 with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Peruvian Luis Horna in 2:20 hours.
Coria has not lost a match on the dirt since a French Open semifinal defeat against Dutchman Martin Verkerk in early June 2003.
He won titles in Stuttgart, Kitzbuehel and Sopot later last year and added trophies in Buenos Aires and the Monte Carlo Masters Series plus two wins in Hamburg for a 14-0 clay court run this year.
World No. 1 Roger Federer, by contrast, wasted no time as the top seeded 2002 champion clinically beat Ecuador’s Nicolas Lapentti, 6-3, 6-3, in 1 hour exactly with the help of 22 winners.
Seventh seeded Carlos Moya, who on Sunday lifted the Rome Masters Series trophy, won a Spanish duel against Alberto Martin, 6-2, 6-3.
But fifth seed Tim Henman of Britain, plagued by a stomach bug, was sent packing 6-2, 6-2 by Romania’s Andrei Pavel, a Hamburg semifinalist back in 2000.
In the third round today, Coria meets the 16 seeded Barcelona champion Tommy Robredo of Spain, a 6-4, 6-2 winner against Argentina’s Mariano Zabaleta.
Federer plays 13 seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, who won 0-6, 6- 4, 6-2 over Austria’s Julian Knowle.
Myskina Suffers Upset,
Mauresmo Advances
In Rome, Russian third seed Anastasia Myskina became the biggest casualty so far at the Rome Masters when she lost 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 to unseeded compatriot Elena Likhovtseva in the second round yesterday.
Second seed Amelie Mauresmo of France and fifth-seeded American Jennifer Capriati, in contrast, secured impressive victories to reach the third round.
Mauresmo eased through with a 7-5, 6-2 win over fellow Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy.
Her reward for victory will be a clash with four-time Rome winner Conchita Martinez of Spain, who came from behind to defeat in-form claycourt specialist Karolina Sprem of Croatia 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Mauresmo, three times a runner-up in Rome in the past four years, was far from her best in the opening set but in the second her superior athleticism allowed her to dominate Dechy.
Fifth seed Capriati began her bid for a first Rome title with a comfortable 6-2, 6-1 win over Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela.
The 28-year-old American, who has never progressed beyond the semi-finals in the Italian capital, next faces 12th seed Paola Suarez of Argentina after she beat French qualifier Tatiana Golovin 6-2, 7-5.
