Second seed Lleyton Hewitt captured his first ATP title of the season on Sunday and avenged his final loss last year as he defeated fourth seed Jurgen Melzer (pictured) 6-4, 7-6(10) in one hour and 41 minutes in the championship of Tennis Channel Open in Las vegas.
The 26-year-old Aussie won an ATP title for the 10th consecutive year, best among active players, with his 26th career crown.
It was Hewitt's first title since winning at the Queen's Club in London (d. Blake) last June. Last year he lost to Blake in the Las Vegas final.
Melzer, who was trying to capture his second career ATP title after winning in Bucharest last September, fell to 1-5 in his career in finals. The 25-year-old Austrian was also attempting to defeat Hewitt for the first time. He dropped to 0-5 in his career .
The players traded breaks in the first two games of the match but Hewitt broke in the ninth game when Melzer hit an overhead long. He then served it out in the next game. The No. 1 Austrian took control of the second set by going up 4-1 but Hewitt broke in the seventh game. Both players held the rest of the way, forcing a tie-break. Melzer had three set points in the tie-break, two at 6-4 and another at 9-8 but Hewitt won four of the last five points. He won on his fourth match point as Melzer hit a forehand into the net.
Hewitt has an outstanding 26-3 career record at this tournament, capturing the title in 2000 (d. Henman) and 2003 (d. Philippoussis), when the event was played in Scottsdale. He also was runner-up in 1999 (l. to Gambill) and last year (l. to Blake).
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID:
Hewitt: “My goal coming into this tournament was not to get injured, not to re-injure my hamstring. That wasn’t easy in Rotterdam, going there, practicing and then pulling out and watching everyone else play. But that probably made me hungrier this week.”
"(Melzer) can play his backhand either way. I’ve found he plays better when he’s behind. When he got down to match point that’s when he played his best tennis. He returns really well.”
“(Las Vegas is) great. Last year was my first time here and I really enjoyed it. I looked forward to coming back this year. The tournament did a great job last year and even made improvements to it this year. The fans have been great. Last night was a great atmosphere playing with Marat (during the semifinals), and tonight it seemed like the fans were cheering for me too.”
“It’s a good feeling before three majors coming up this year. This was a good one to get. I’m happy with it. To win another title earlier in the year just gives you that much more confidence for the rest of the year.”
Melzer: "Being in a final is great, but of course you want to win. I had enough chances to get to the third set but I didn’t take them. Some I got lucky, and some I might’ve choked. But when I wake up tomorrow I’ll be happy I had a pretty good tournament here this week.Lleyton makes you hit a lot of balls. You have to hit lots of balls with Lleyton; he’s going to make you play and he’s going to make you win. You know that when you walk onto the court with him.”
Quick Links
