LONDON, 8 June 2005 — Top seed Lleyton Hewitt marked his return from a three-month injury break by edging into the third round of the Stella Artois Championships with a 6-7, 7-5, 7-5 victory over Belgium’s Xavier Malisse yesterday.
The Australian was sidelined in March with a toe injury and had to delay his return to competitive action after fracturing a rib in a fall at his Sydney home last month.
Desperate to get match practice ahead of Wimbledon later this month, Hewitt appeared untroubled as he scrambled around the slick green surface. After losing the first set 7-3 in the tiebreak, he displayed his determination by winning the next two, securing victory with his 10th ace after two hours 37 minutes.
Wild card Mark Philippoussis yesterday won only his third match since Wimbledon last year as he defeated Dutchman Raemon Sluiter 6-4, 6-0 to reach the second round at the 680, 250-euro Queen’s club event.
British hope Tim Henman, the third-seeded almost-man who has never won a title on grass, was taking on American Robby Ginepri.
In first-round play, 15th seed Max Mirnyi defeated Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-2, Czech Tomas Zib beat Jerome Haehnel of France 6-3, 6-3, while Russia’s Dimitry Tursunov put out Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman 7-5, 6-3.
Off-Form Federer Overcomes Soderling in Halle
In Berlin, an out-of-sorts Roger Federer was given a stern test by Sweden’s Robin Soderling before coming through his first round match at the Halle Open yesterday.
The Swiss world No. 1 and top seed, normally so dominant on grass, was playing his first match since losing to Spaniard Rafael Nadal on clay in the French Open semifinals last week, eventually beating the Swede 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.
An inspired Soderling, ranked 35 in the world, took the first set and pushed Federer all the way, playing some thumping passing strokes and breaking the Wimbledon champion back in the third set to temporarily stay in contention.
Federer, who could meet Nadal in the Halle semis, said he had trouble with his returns and was lacking match practice on grass.
Earlier yesterday, former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus 6-7, 6-4 6-4.
Sharapova Off to Flying Start in Edgbaston
In Birmingham, England, Russian Maria Sharapova made a convincing start to her preparations for the defense of her Wimbledon title with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Luxembourg’s Anne Kremer at the Edgbaston tournament yesterday.
The 18-year-old defending champion and top seed, who was given a bye in the first round, recovered from an early loss of serve to blow away the world number 94 with some thumping groundstrokes on the Edgbaston grass.
“I was a little bit nervous at the beginning, you don’t know what to expect in your first match, but as I started getting into it I got better and better,” said Sharapova, who was beaten in the quarterfinals at the French Open last week.
World No. 2 Sharapova will face either 16th seed Samantha Stosur or her fellow Australian Evie Dominikovic in the third round of the pre-Wimbledon event.
Yesterday’s win came as a relief after she and fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko suffered a first round defeat as holders in the doubles on Monday evening, when Sharapova sported Rafael Nadal-style pirate pants to combat the chilly conditions.
Kirilenko also won her singles match yesterday. The 15th seed beat Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine 6-3, 6-2 in the first round.
Third-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic moved into the third round with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over India’s Sania Mirza but American Lisa Raymond, seeded 14, suffered a 6-1, 6-0 thrashing by Venezuelan qualifier Milagros Sequera in a first round upset
