Hewitt Starts Slow at ATP Queens Club

Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt was tested from the start Tuesday in his debut match at the ATP stop at the Queen's Club, the Stella Artois Championships, coming from a set down to defeat former Wimbledon semifinalist Xavier Malisse 6-7(3), 7-5, 7-5, aided by a Malisse meltdown.

"I knew it was going to be a tough match going into it," Hewitt said. "Xavier played extremely well yesterday in the parts that I saw, and he's a lot better player when his mind's on the job than his ranking suggests."

Just coming off a suspension, Malisse will be up for review again after stunning television viewers with a string of obscenities at the chair umpire after what the Belgian perceived was a bad call, melting down and screaming (to paraphrase) "You guys are always right -- that's how the ATP goes, even when you get suspended, you've got nothing to say, you guys sit like a little bitch and just lick each others' ass."

Stay tuned for the size check Malisse will be writing to the ATP.

Other seeded winners Tuesday were (3) Tim Henman (d. Ginepri 6-1 in the third), (4) Radek Stepanek (d. (Q) Carraz in three), (7) Sebastien Grosjean (d Garcia-Lopez), (9) Taylor Dent (d. Behrend), (10) Richard Gasquet (d. Tipsarevic), and (15) Max Mirnyi (d. Berdych in three).

Unseeded players into the second round were (WC) Mark Philippoussis (d. Sluiter, bagel in the second, setting up a meeting with Andy Roddick), Brit (WC) Jamie Delgado (d. Monfils), Czechs Tomas Zib (d. Haehnel) and Jan Hernych (d. Clement in three), Luxembourg's Gilles Muller (d. Benneteau), Croat Ivo Karlovic (d. (Q) Mertinak in two tiebreaks), Russian Dmitry Tursunov (d. Bjorkman), Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu (d. Baghdatis from a set down), and American wildcard James Blake (d. countryman (LL) Morrison in three).

"It was the first match back after a while," said Philippoussis, who had not competed since suffering an ankle injury in March, and a back injury since. "I think the key was just to come in there with just a positive mind and try and have a good start, keep on my toes. Obviously, I haven't played for a while, so I was just eager to be out there."

On tap for Wednesday at Queen's are (5) Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic vs. Hernych, (WC) Philippoussis vs. (2) Roddick, (14) "Grinning" Greg Rusedski vs. Tursunov, (9) Dent vs. (WC) Murray, Muller vs. (6) T.Johansson, (WC) Delgado vs. (10) Gasquet, "Dr." Ivo Karlovic vs. (8) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez, K.Kim vs. Zib, (16) Beck vs. Mathieu, (Q) Chris "Penthouse" Guccione vs. (13) Andreev, Sanguinetti vs. (15) Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, and Hanescu vs. (WC) Blake.