Hewitt Beats Illness, Spadea at ATP Sydney
Posted on January 10, 2006Four-time Sydney champ Lleyton Hewitt overcame a stomach virus and American qualifier Vince Spadea 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 Monday to collect his 400th career win and advance into the second round at the Medibank International, commenting that the illness might take him out of contention the week before the Australian Open.
Hewitt said he was "only a couple of points away from walking off" and retiring from the match in the first set, and said he could pull from the event before his second-round encounter with Austrian Jurgen Melzer.
"Today was the worst it's been," Hewitt said. "I had no energy...It was one of the worst times I felt on the tennis court. The last time was probably when I had chicken pox at the Hopman Cup before I knew what it was...Right now, I feel my health is more important than getting matches under your belt."
The Australian attempted to hang in against an opponent with a reputation for failing to close out big matches.
"I ended up saving some pretty big break points out there," Hewitt said, salvaging 11 of Spadea's 14 break points. "Vince is the type of player who will give you a few loose points, and that's what he did at 4-3 in the third set."
Another big Australian winner was wildcard Chris "Penthouse" Guccione, who came from a set down to dismiss No. 5 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero in three sets, throwing down 26 aces in the process.
"He struggled with my serve two years ago, same case today," Guccione said after posting a second career win over the former No. 1-ranked Spaniard. "It was just a bit disappointing last week not to play as well as I did today."
Other winners on the day were (8) James Blake (d. Sanguinetti), the Austrian Melzer (d. Chela), Argentine Agustin Calleri (d. Mathieu), and qualifiers Arnaud Clement (d. Dent 6-2 in the third) and "Dr." Ivo Karlovic (d. Hanescu in three).
On tap for Tuesday are (7) Stepanek vs. Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan, Grosjean vs. Moya, Berdych vs. (2) Davydenko, (4) Gasquet vs. Andreev, in doubles (1) Bryan/Bryan vs. Aussies (WC) Guccione/Healey, Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco vs. (LL) Monaco, (Q) Seppi vs. (SE) Vliegen, Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro vs. Serra in an all-French meeting, Tursunov vs. (6) Robredo, and Xavier "X-Man" Malisse vs. (WC) Luczak.
Hewitt said he was "only a couple of points away from walking off" and retiring from the match in the first set, and said he could pull from the event before his second-round encounter with Austrian Jurgen Melzer.
"Today was the worst it's been," Hewitt said. "I had no energy...It was one of the worst times I felt on the tennis court. The last time was probably when I had chicken pox at the Hopman Cup before I knew what it was...Right now, I feel my health is more important than getting matches under your belt."
The Australian attempted to hang in against an opponent with a reputation for failing to close out big matches.
"I ended up saving some pretty big break points out there," Hewitt said, salvaging 11 of Spadea's 14 break points. "Vince is the type of player who will give you a few loose points, and that's what he did at 4-3 in the third set."
Another big Australian winner was wildcard Chris "Penthouse" Guccione, who came from a set down to dismiss No. 5 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero in three sets, throwing down 26 aces in the process.
"He struggled with my serve two years ago, same case today," Guccione said after posting a second career win over the former No. 1-ranked Spaniard. "It was just a bit disappointing last week not to play as well as I did today."
Other winners on the day were (8) James Blake (d. Sanguinetti), the Austrian Melzer (d. Chela), Argentine Agustin Calleri (d. Mathieu), and qualifiers Arnaud Clement (d. Dent 6-2 in the third) and "Dr." Ivo Karlovic (d. Hanescu in three).
On tap for Tuesday are (7) Stepanek vs. Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan, Grosjean vs. Moya, Berdych vs. (2) Davydenko, (4) Gasquet vs. Andreev, in doubles (1) Bryan/Bryan vs. Aussies (WC) Guccione/Healey, Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco vs. (LL) Monaco, (Q) Seppi vs. (SE) Vliegen, Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro vs. Serra in an all-French meeting, Tursunov vs. (6) Robredo, and Xavier "X-Man" Malisse vs. (WC) Luczak.