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Struggling Hewitt Exits, Federer Rolls at Australian Open
Posted on January 19, 2006
A subdued No. 3 seed Lleyton Hewitt meekly exited the Australian Open late Thursday night, displaying none of his trademark fist-pumping or feistiness in a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-2 loss to unseeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela.
The match was a switch from the pair's meeting last year at the Oz Open where Chela was fined for spitting in the direction of Hewitt, with the Argentine one of Hewitt's victims en route to a run onto the semifinals.
In the third set the decidedly unaggressive Hewitt received treatment from the trainer for blisters on his feet, and was limping by the end of the third set.
Hewitt needed eight set points to close out the Argentine in the third set, but in the fourth was no match for the baseline accuracy of Chela in a match ending after 7 a.m. (EST).
Swiss world No. 1 Roger Federer led the seeded winners Thursday with a scarily-efficient 6-1, 6-4, 6-0 win over German Florian Mayer.
"It's so nice to get quick matches in the heat," said Federer, who next faces former doubles partner Max "The Beast" Mirnyi. "If I keep on playing the way I am, not losing too much energy out on the court, maybe it's going to pay back eventually."
Other seeded winners Thursday were (5) Nikolay Davydenko (d. K.Kim in four), (6) Guillermo Coria (d. Luzzi), (12) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty (d. D.Norman 10-8 in the fifth), (15) Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. Tipsarevic 6-2 in the fifth), (21) Nicolas Kiefer (d. Pashanski in four), (23) Igor Andreev (d. Sluiter 6-2 in the fifth), (25) Sebastien Grosjean (d. Monaco), and (30) Max Mirnyi (d. Sanguinetti in four).
Former No. 2-ranked German Tommy Haas continued his torrid play in leading the unseeded winners into the third round, dropping only three games against American Paul Goldstein.
Other un-seeds into the third round were upset-makers Peter Luczak of Australia (d. (24) O.Rochus 6-1 in the fifth) and Belgian Kristof Vliegen (d. (28) Verdasco in four), Aussie Nathan Healey (d. Delic in four), Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu (d. Bogomolov Jr., bagel in the first), and Peru's Luis Horna (d. Phau).
On court Friday in Melbourne are (2) Roddick vs. Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau, (16) Robredo vs. (20) Blake, (8) Gaudio vs. Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro, (4) Nalbandian vs. (26) Nieminen, (18) Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic vs. (11) Ferrer, (7) Ljubicic vs. (31) Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez, (10) T.Johansson vs. Simon, and the Ginepri-killer Gremelmayr vs. Marcos "Bombs Over" Baghdatis.
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