Hewitt Wins Fourth Sydney Title

Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt became the only player to win the ATP stop in Sydney four times in the Open Era (since 1968) with a 7-5, 6-0 win Saturday over tour rookie Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic.

"I love playing here in Sydney and it gets better and better every year," Hewitt said. "I've only played four tournaments in this arena and I've been fortunate to win all four, so it's a hell of a place to play tennis."

Minar, who exhibits a monstrous forehand, entered Sydney this week with only one career win at the ATP level, and spent the majority of 2004 pining away on the challenger circuit.

"Lleyton, good luck in Melbourne and playing against Roger (Federer)," the soft-spoken Minar said in broken English. "For me, it's been a big success and I hope I will play here again next year."

Hewitt also won Sydney in 2000-01 and 2004, 20 straight matches at the event. The former No. 1 enters the Australian Open with a 7-1 record after losing last week in the quarterfinals at Adelaide to Taylor Dent.

Australian Todd Woodbridge won his fifth Sydney doubles title Saturday, teaming with Mahesh Bhupathi to defeat French pair Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 6-3, 6-3.

"We've played a couple times before just as a one-off and filling in a week on the tour while we had no where to go, and we played so-so," Woodbridge said of his former teamings with Bhupathi. "But we really sort of focused on a few areas of our game where we can work and link together better. You know, on paper, we should be a good team, and I think we've quickly proved that we'll be a good team this year."

The title was a record 83rd for Woodbridge.