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Home dreams fade as Hewitt crumbles
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-20 07:00
Third seed Lleyton Hewitt and women's fifth seed Mary Pierce were
sent spinning out of the Australian Open yesterday, but an awesome Swiss Roger
Federer glided through to the third round.
Hewitt's dream of glory in front of his home crowd was shattered by
Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela, who outclassed the Australian 6-4, 6-4, 6-7
(8/10), 6-2.
The former Wimbledon and US Open champion, who was struggling with a left
ankle injury, became the highest seeded casualty of the first Grand Slam of the
season.
Hewitt has been battling form and fitness concerns in the lead-up to the
tournament and was taken to five sets by Czech Robin Vik in Tuesday's opening
round.
He was again under the pump against Chela after falling two sets behind in a
physically-demanding encounter on a warm night.
There was history between the pair leading into their touted grudge match.
Chela was fined US$2,000 by tournament officials for spitting towards Hewitt
during a changeover in the fourth set of last year's match.
Hewitt's erratic 2006 form continued against Chela, with his serve broken
five times and conceding 15 break point opportunities to lose the opening two
sets.
Several hours ago, Pierce was the highest seeded casualty as she failed to
find the sizzling comeback form that swept her to two Grand Slam finals last
year, falling 6-3, 7-5 to Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.
She was the second big-name flop on the women's side after Venus Williams.
A third top player could soon be joining them with Kim Clijsters continuing
to struggle with a hip injury which she said threatened her campaign, which is
good news for Martina Hingis whose remarkable comeback cranked up a gear.
The triple champion blitzed Finn Emma Laine 6-1, 6-1, and with Pierce out the
draw has opened up for her.
She will now play Pierce's conqueror and will be astonished to find that she
will not meet a seeded player until the quarter-finals, which is scheduled to be
Clijsters if she survives her injury.
"Maybe in these three years I've freshened up a bit and
now I can just go full gas," she told an ecstatic Melbourne Park crowd.
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