Will Hewitt ever take next difficult step and break grand-slam duck?      
                                                                           
                                                                           
 Lleyton's heroics have enhanced his reputation, but it's open to          
 conjecture if the little guy can land a big one.                        
                                                                           
                                                                           
 By Richard Hinds                                                         
                                                                           
                                                                           
 To the regret of those who like their tennis to be a blood sport, Lleyton 
 Hewitt was not to survive beyond the first week. However, in the 11 hours 
 and three minutes it took to complete his three gut-wrenching centre-court
 encounters, the 19-year-old left Melbourne Park having enhanced his       
 reputation both as a player of rare ability and a racquet-wielding        
 warrior.                                                                  
                                                                           
                                                                           
 Until he blew a fuse in the final moments of his five-set defeat to Carlos
 Moya, Hewitt was even able to appease some of those who believe his       
 on-court antics too often cross the line between legitimate               
 self-motivation and downright brattish petulance.                         
                                                                           
                                                                           
 Only occasionally were his pumping fists directed at umpires or opponents 
 which, by past standards, made him seem as calm and collected as a        
 latter-day Bjorn Borg.                                                    
                                                                           
                                                                           
 But, as he tries to make the small but difficult step from tour star and  
 legitimate top-tenner to championship contender, Hewitt's early exit left 
 one question unanswered: does he have what it takes to win grand slams?   
                                                                           
                                                                           
 He needed to make no excuses for his failure to go all the way this time. 
 When the computer spat out the draw, it was Hewitt, not Damir Dokic, who  
 should have been complaining that the Tennis Australia lap-top had blown a
 gasket.                                                                   
                                                                           
                                                                           
 In Jonas Bjorkman, Tommy Haas and Moya, he played, in successive rounds, a
 former world No4 in good form, the most dangerous non-seeded player in the
 draw and a former world No1 with a point to prove about his exclusion from
 the Spanish Davis Cup. "If I played three guys ranked 70, 80, 90 in the   
 world, a qualifier, a wildcard, then it could have been a totally         
 different story," said Hewitt.                                            
                                                                           
                                                                           
 Hewitt was particularly unfortunate because he came into the tournament   
 still suffering the effects of the breathing problems that had hindered   
 him before the Davis Cup final. Coach Darren Cahill had said Hewitt should
 miss either the Davis Cup or the Australian Open to have corrective       
 surgery. His priority was the Davis Cup.                                  
                                                                           
                                                                           
 Then, when the nasal spray and tablets he is taking to alleviate the      
 illness allowed him to play, a few days before the Australian Open he felt
 a twinge in his right hamstring. What Hewitt needed was a couple of soft  
 matches to ease his way through the first week. What he copped was the    
 tennis equivalent of the siege of Stalingrad - a first-week war of        
 attrition.                                                                
                                                                           
                                                                           
 The way Hewitt dug himself into the baseline and refused to be beaten was,
 at times, inspiring. Even against Moya he often turned lost causes into   
 clean winners and, as ever, his sheer pace was far more intimidating than 
 his pantomime Rocky impersonation.                                        
                                                                           
                                                                           
 However, you could also argue that Hewitt will always struggle to survive 
 the two weeks of a slam. Because he does not have the big weapons of some 
 - Moya's forehand being the telling example - he works harder for his     
 money than Tom Selleck's make-up artist. Inevitably, he will pay a heavy  
 toll.                                                                     
                                                                           
                                                                           
 Hewitt dropped just one set on his way to the semi-finals of the US Open  
 and, you would think, he will need a run at least that easy to go all the 
 way. At Flushing Meadow, Hewitt's progress was stopped routinely by Pete  
 Sampras, just the best of many players who have an enormous advantage in  
 size and power over the Australian. Still 19, Hewitt has time to add      
 muscle to his physique and shots to his artillery. But there are some in  
 the locker-room who will tell you that, like Michael Chang, once his pace 
 diminishes so, too, will his effectiveness.                               
                                                                           
                                                                           
 But that is conjecture. What could not be disputed was that Hewitt        
 displayed a level of spirit and commitment here that was frightening in   
 its intensity. Only in the closing moments of his loss to Moya, that      
 lasted almost four hours, was Hewitt unable to raise his game. Moya left  
 the court both relieved and impressed.                                    
                                                                           
                                                                           
 Having just survived five sets against Hewitt at an hour when he would    
 prefer to save his best footwork for the dancefloor, the Spaniard declared
 there was no-one tougher in the game. "Maybe he doesn't have the talent of
 Safin or Kuerten, but mentally he's No1 in the world," said Moya. "He     
 never gives up and he's always there." Whether Hewitt also deserves to be 
 considered the sport's No1 problem child - or is, in the words of Monty   
 Python, just a naughty boy - became a matter of taste rather than         
 conviction during his matches here. By most standards, his propensity to  
 scream directly at umpires and opponents would be considered beyond the   
 bounds of sportsmanship.                                                  
                                                                           
                                                                           
 However, by the measure of past performances, throwing down his racquet,  
 screaming "cheat" when an overrule went against him - the television      
 replay showed the umpire was right - and copping a $2,000 fine for an     
 audible obscenity seemed downright restrained.                            
                                                                           
                                                                           
 After three heroic matches, those who don't like Hewitt's act should know 
 they will at least have to get used to it.                                
                                                                           
                                                                           
 What remains unclear is whether he will continue to be a grand-slam       
 sideshow or can take his performance all the way to the podium.           
                                                                           
                                                                   
Hewitt keeps pushing on

By LINDA PEARCE
Monday 22 January 2001


Towards the end of what was a brutally long tennis year, Lleyton Hewitt sat down for a talk with his coach, Darren Cahill, and was told to consider his options. Breathing problems meant Hewitt should think about whether he would contest the Davis Cup final in December or the Australian circuit, for it was unlikely his health would permit him to do both.

Hewitt opted to wear the national tracksuit ¨C even if he could not quite manage the team tribute moustache ¨C for John Newcombe and Tony Roche¡¯s farewell tie in Spain and take his chances in Australia, whatever the potential consequences for the grand slam tournament the teenager covets most. For Hewitt, there was no choice. "Davis Cup¡¯s my priority," he said.

Yet through little fault of his own, the situation has been one of the lose-lose variety. Australia was defeated 3-1 by Spain in a final that ate into what little rest time is granted between seasons, and ended when a gallant Hewitt fell to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the first reverse singles.

Then, on Saturday night, Hewitt was beaten in five sets by another Spaniard, Carlos Moya, who could not even win selection for Barcelona.

If Hewitt would be forgiven for having nightmares about sangria-quaffing Mediterranean types, then the events of the past three weeks appears to have been no better or worse than he expected. Having been precluded from doing any fitness work for about five months, he said he started the summer hoping for the best, rather than counting on it.

"I was very happy with the way I played in Sydney and got myself in good condition after losing in the quarters in Adelaide," said Hewitt, who was remarkably composed post-match considering what he had just endured.

"But, you know, it was very hard to expect huge things, because before the Davis Cup final, I, in my mind, was worried that I was going to play the Davis Cup final or play the Australian Open circuit. You know, my breathing was that bad at the time.

"Darren had sat me down and said, `you¡¯re probably going to have to miss one of these, which one are you going to miss?¡¯ I took my chances in the Davis Cup and, as it turns out, I¡¯ve taken my chances for the Australian Open circuit as well. I really didn¡¯t give myself the greatest chances in both situations due to things that are out of my control anyway."

Health was one, and the draw was another, although Hewitt¡¯s win-some-lose-some philosophy was encouragingly non-Dokic-like. The 19-year-old slightly strained his hamstring during practice on Sunday, two days after he had learnt that he was likely to face three opponents who had been members of the top 10 in the past four years, in the first three rounds.

Jonas Bjorkman pushed him to five sets in not far short of four hours on Tuesday night, and then Tommy Haas lost in straight sets a match he could easily have won in the same fashion.

Hewitt had been softened up, and it was all set for Moya, a one-time No.1, 1997 Australian Open finalist and 1998 French Open champion, to bury the seventh seed for good.

So he did, but not until well after 1am, after three hours and 50 minutes, and a scoreboard that showed a 4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 result in what for Moya was one of his best signs yet that his return from a back stress fracture is well on course. "The match I won today is unbelievable. I have no words to describe it," Moya said.

"(Hewitt¡¯s) very difficult. He runs like crazy and the balls are all coming back, and I was lucky that I got many free points with my serve. He¡¯s a very tough player, and mentally he¡¯s the No.1.

" As I said, maybe he doesn¡¯t have the talent of Safin or Kuerten, but mentally he¡¯s the No.1 in the world, I would say. He never gives up, and he¡¯s always there."

Hewitt¡¯s third-round loss to Moya means he has reached the fourth round only once in 11 grand slam events ¨C his semi-final appearance in the US Open last year.

Hewitt must now decide if the time is approaching to take a voluntary break before one is forced upon him.

His predicament represents a compelling case for those who are pushing for the two Davis Cup finalists to receive a first-round bye the following year but, given that is not yet the situation, perhaps next week¡¯s enforced rest will not be such a bad thing.

Australia plays Ecuador in Perth from February 9-11 and Hewitt¡¯s priority before then is to let his body heal. "I¡¯m struggling with my hamstring at the moment," he said. "That¡¯s the priority, to try to get that right in time because I¡¯ve been taking a lot of tablets and stuff to try to get it right for these two weeks.

"Now I¡¯ve really got to get off that and try to get it 100 per cent for the Davis Cup tie, then the American hardcourt season."

Hewitt is committed to San Jose and Scottsdale before Masters Series events at Indian Wells and Miami. But early yesterday, barely half an hour after leaving the court with a $3600 fine for verbally abusing the chair umpire, and the knowledge that he was hurt badly by three double faults during the decisive service break two games later, it was telling that Hewitt was asked whether he was considering taking a break for mental health reasons.

"No, the schedule doesn¡¯t really allow me to take a break," he said, pointing out, for example, the preparation time required for the switch to grass. Surgery had been recommended to treat what has most recently been diagnosed as a sinus problem, but he said there was simply no time for the 4-5 week rehabilitation that such action would require.

Anyway, Hewitt emphasised that his breathing had improved with the help of medication and the use of a nasal spray, and the hamstring will repair.

It all sounds encouraging enough, but the worry is whether he can push so hard indefinitely, when his passion and intensity, as well as his attritional, counter-punching style, require so much energy.

The teenager has already been advised, by John Fitzgerald and others, to scale back his commitments, although Cahill counters that last year¡¯s intense activity was partly because of a rate of improvement that even the coach did not predict. Wins mean more matches, and Hewitt earned plenty of both.

Yet only Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras played fewer tournaments among players in the top 50, and Cahill insists that Hewitt will continue to be handled with care.

"It wasn¡¯t like we were sending him out week after week," Cahill said. "He played some doubles last year as well, which was a deliberate ploy to improve his game. I think as long as we manage him well that Lleyton can play for the next dozen years, no problems."

Still, the immediate past, rather than the future, would have been occupying Hewitt¡¯s weary mind when he woke up yesterday morning, sore, deflated and bumped from the tournament that means more to him than any other.

If only, he mused, he could have held his opening serve in the second set when Moya was still spraying his backhand around like a garden hose. If only he had converted that break point early in the fifth set. If only the draw had been kinder.

"At the end of the day, I gave everything I had," said Hewitt. "In all three of my matches, I had to work my butt off the whole time. I didn¡¯t get too many cheap points against the three guys that I played. They¡¯re all very class, highly rated players.

"Obviously the draw didn¡¯t go my way, and I didn¡¯t give myself a chance to work my way into the tournament. But there¡¯s nothing I can do about that."

Carlos does it for the 'old' dudes - not entirely about Lleyton but an interesting article.
Saturday, 20 January, 2001
Suzi Petkovski (AUS Open Site)

A war is being waged at the top of men's tennis between the old guard and the
much-trumpeted "New Balls". On Saturday night, Rod Laver Arena hosted a
centerpiece battle of this war, with Carlos Moya doing it for the old dudes.

In a wonderfully strategic baseline battle, it was Moya's edge in service and
forehand power that saw him outmanoevre the speedy Hewitt and prevail 4-6 6-1
5-7 6-2 7-5.

The 24-year-old Moya, finalist here in 1997 and world No.1 for a time in
1999, is on the comeback trail after a debilitating back injury. Ranked only
42, he warmed-up for the Australian Open by losing first round in Sydney. In
contrast, Hewitt is ranked No.7 after a stellar year and won in Sydney last
week. His upwardly mobile status was underlined with no less than three
agents from his management company in the player's box.

The 19-year-old Hewitt continues to polarize both the public and his peers
with his abrasive on-court antics. At the year-end Tennis Master's Cup,
Moya's countryman, Alex Corretja derided the Australian for his behavior. But
Saturday night's match was played in a fine spirit and Hewitt's gesture of
crossing to his opponent's side, doffing his baseball cap and shaking hands
at the end will win him new fans.

"He has respect for the opponent; there were no problems with me," Moya said.
"We are just different. He shows his emotions." Indeed, Moya was full of
praise for the 19-year-old firebrand. "He's very tough, he runs like crazy.
He doesn't have the talent of a Safin or Kuerten, but mentally he is No.1."

Though they wore identical outfits, Moya and Hewitt took vastly different
routes to Saturday's showdown. Moya thumped past Marcelo Rios and Marc
Rosset, without coming close to dropping a set. Hewitt made marathon
comebacks against veteran Jonas Bjorkman [after being down two sets to one]
and Tommy Haas [from 0-5 in the first set, 1-4 in the second and another
break down in the third]. The German, a fellow New Ball, was a victim of
"friendly fire."

Moya's victory turned the tide at Australian Open 2001 in favor of the
geriatics [well, in tennis terms]. Thus far, the old lions have been tearing
into the brat pack. In the biggest upset here, world No.1 Gustavo Kuerten was
bounced in the second round by 65-ranked Greg Rusedski, a decrepit
27-year-old whose medical file last year was more substantial than his
playing record. Even the pugnacious Pat Cash, Rusedski's new coach, admitted
Greg's winning never entered their minds.

Also in the second round, Yevgeny Kafelnikov ousted Nicolas Kiefer in a
five-set cracker that was a four-set contest; the decider being a 6-0 sprint
for the older man. On Sunday, neither the brutal heat, the forceful play of
Chris Woodruff, nor the condemnation from his peers for his pay-rise push
could prevent the talented Russian from barging into the fourth round.

Champion in 1999 and finalist to Andre Agassi last year, Kafelnikov is one
old dude who will take plenty of beating. He now boasts a 25-4 record at the
Australian Open [or 15 wins from his last 16 matches since 1999]. Throw in
his gold-medal performance at the Sydney Olympics and he's such a fixture
Down Under that he could take out Australian residency.

For six of the past seven years, Kafelnikov has claimed the "iron man" record
of playing the most matches on tour [101 singles, 55 doubles last year]. And,
just shy of his 27th birthday, Yevgeny ain't slowing down. Nope, he reckons
an older competitor is a tougher competitor. "Looking back three, four years
ago, I might have let it [the Kiefer match] go," he admitted. "But not this
time. Because I do realize that the Grand Slams are important. With every
match I go towards the end of my career, and every match is important to me
now."

Nor is another golden oldie, defending champion Agassi, living in terror of
the young Turks. The 30-year-old made his fourth-round appointment with
Aussie Andrew Ilie in record time. Youth will be served? Nobody told Andre,
who reckons he'll rock on until he's 35. A special motivation here is that
Agassi has never successfully defended any of his six Grand Slam wins.

The king, Pete Sampras, has had a more hazardous path to the last 16, needing
over nine hours and 13 ugly sets to get past Karol Kucera, Bohdan Ulihrach
and Juan Ignacio Chela. Now Pete's run into the "Codger Corner" section of
the draw. He next faces fellow old-timer Todd Martin and after that, probably
Agassi. Last year Sampras and Agassi provided the match of the tournament -
an epic such as you might see once every 10 years - in the semis. This year,
alas, it's the quarters.

With Agassi and Sampras fading from finals contention [they won three
tournaments between them last year], the ATP launched the New Balls Please
campaign in 2000 to familiarize the public with the young guns of the game
who will fill the shoes of the living legends. On one side of the net is the
old guard: Agassi, Sampras, Kafelnikov, Moya and Patrick Rafter, with 23
Grand Slam titles between them. On the other we have the "new balls" of Marat
Safin, Gustavo Kuerten, Magnus Norman, Lleyton Hewitt, Nicolas Kiefer, Tommy
Haas et al.

The New Balls campaign was pilloried in some quarters for presenting the
players as beefcakes. All those bedroom-dim posters, with the camera
seemingly at crotch level. One poster featuring Hewitt, Safin, Norman and
Kuerten suggestively asked: "How do you like me now?" Could a topless
calendar be far off?

But in 2000, these new balls showed they have plenty of bounce. Kuerten and
Safin [French and US champions respectively] split the Grand Slam spoils with
old lions Agassi and Sampras [Australian and Wimbledon champions]. And with
Kuerten's victory over Agassi in the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup, and
the mercurial Safin bagging more tournament trophies [seven] than anyone else
last year, you'd have to give the nod to the poster boys.

But at Australian Open 2001 the tide is turning. The round of 16 line-up
favors the oldies. New Balls: 2 [Norman and Safin]. Old lions: 6 [Rusedski,
Kafelnikov, Agassi, Sampras, Martin, Moya].

The next intriguing old dude-young upstart clash would be Rafter-Safin in the
quarters, if both clear their fourth round opponents - Tim Henman and Dominik
Hrbaty, respectively.

The ever-popular Rafter, who just turned 28, has been making noises about his
creaking body and his desire to plant himself in a less-stressful pasture.
The mere appearance of the word 'retirement' and Rafter in the same sentence
induced scenes of national distress. When the actual day comes that Pat zips
up the kit bag for good, a national day of mourning wouldn't be far-fetched.

But here Rafter is in the fourth round, equaling his best effort at the Open.
Could it be that Pat mentioned the 'r' word to take the burden of expectation
off his overworked shoulders? The 12th seed, Rafter will have nothing to lose
against Safin, the brilliant US Open champion who came within a whisker of
finishing 2000 as the new No.1.

And what a perv-fest Rafter-Safin would be for the ladies. Our own
International Sex God versus the Valentino of tennis. In all the blur over
Anna's short shorts, Mary Pierce's backless number and Venus almost falling
out of her outfit, it's good to know that sex appeal in tennis isn't confined
to the women's tour. Amen to that.

And while we're getting ahead of ourselves, imagine the scenes of national
hysteria if Rafter were to make the final in possibly his last Australian
Open. Could it happen? If the form-guide holds, there's plenty of life in the
old dogs yet.

END--www.ausopen.org/news/

L

Lleyton deserves a fair go  By Greg Prichard

John Newcombe has urged Australians to leave his good mate Lleyton Hewitt alone.

The former Davis Cup captain fears the media and some fans are bent on being negative about the 19-year-old rising star, and "hurting a kid who can't understand why this is happening".

Newcombe, one of Hewitt's closest confidants, has defended the teenager in the wake of the debate over whether his on-court approach makes him a hero or someone to be despised, like John McEnroe at his worst.

"What has he [Hewitt] done?" Newcombe asked The Sun-Herald yesterday.

"He yells out 'c'mon' and pumps his fist. He's done nothing wrong and the people who are criticising him should get off his back. It's the tall poppy syndrome again.

"Lleyton is a demonstrative person and what he does is purely to gee himself up. It's not an act designed to get him some sort of unfair advantage over his opponent.

"It's his nature and he does exactly the same thing when he's watching his favourite [AFL] team, the Adelaide Crows, on TV. He jumps out of his chair and yells and pumps his fist. That's him.

"But there are certain people who seem to enjoy writing negative articles about Lleyton and that's the reason he doesn't do a lot of media. He might be a world-ranked top-10 tennis player, but he's also a 19-year-old kid and these unfair stories hurt him and his family."

Newcombe said Hewitt confided his pain in February last year.

"We were together during a Davis Cup trip, there was a story in a gossip column saying he had been abusive to an air hostess on a flight. It was a complete lie.

"How would you like to be 18 and have someone write something like that about you which wasn't true?"

In December, Spaniard Alex Corretja criticised Hewitt, saying his manner was "strange", "arrogant" and "too much". Corretja made it clear he thought Hewitt's approach was unfair to opponents.

And on Tuesday, during the classic first-round Australian Open match between Hewitt and Jonas Bjorkman, the Swede at times looked annoyed by Hewitt's approach, although he did not make an issue of it at the post-match media conference.

But Newcombe believes Hewitt doesn't enter the court with the aim of trying to intimidate linespeople or umpires or to try to put opponents off with his yelling.

"You're allowed to question line calls," he said. "Lleyton doesn't do that unjustly. He's just out there to win, and the fans love him.

"I'm sure there are some members of the Australian public who don't like him for whatever reason, even just for wearing his baseball cap the wrong way around, but they would be very much in the minority.

"A couple of years ago he really was getting in the faces of his opponents and he got criticised for that, which was fair enough.

"People he cares about talked about that to him. Pat [Rafter] said something to him. Darren Cahill [Hewitt's coach] is very good with him on that sort of thing.

"If I thought he was out of line I would have words with him and I know Darren would have words with him."

Newcombe said Hewitt was "wary" of the media, but was starting to "come around" more.

"Lleyton just has to learn who he can trust to give him a fair go," he said. "He won't talk to the ones who won't give him a fair go.

"But he's slowly starting to do things ... You should speak to the overseas media about him. Lleyton's very popular overseas and the overseas media can't understand why some media in his own country want to criticise him."

The Sun-Herald

 

Moya beats Hewitt in marathon
By PHIL BROWN
.c The Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Carlos Moya blocked, sliced and lobbed his way out of trouble Saturday night, finally beating a scrambling Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open.

Moya, the 1997 Australian runner-up and 1998 French Open champion, finished the 3-hour, 48-minute match with a delicate forehand volley. The seventh-seeded Aussie sprinted for the ball but couldn't return it.

Moya's victory completed a day in which top-seeded Martina Hingis advanced in the women's draw, as did Venus and Serena Williams.

With most in the crowd of 15,000 roaring for every point by Hewitt, the 19-year-old spent 11 minutes trying to win his serve at 5-5 in the final set. He saved three break points and failed on three game points before double-faulting on the fourth break point.

Moya then served an ace, watched a passing shot go just wide, hit a service winner and then finished with the touch volley.

The match was played under a closed roof at Rod Laver Arena because of occasional rain. Earlier, temperatures outside reached 125 degrees on the sun-baked courts.

The unseeded Spaniard is coming back after a lower-back stress fracture in 1999.

``People thought I was done,'' Moya said. ``Now everything is going right and I'm healthy.''

``When I was making many mistakes at the beginning, I never gave up,'' he added. ``I kept fighting, and at the end I got paid off. It's unbelievable the feeling of being the winner of this match.''

Moya beat Marcelo Rios and Marc Rosset in straight sets in earlier rounds. Hewitt downed Jonas Bjorkman in five sets and Tommy Haas in three sets.

``I gave everything I had. ... He's a class player,'' Hewitt said. ``As soon as he starts getting his confidence back, he's going to be very hard to beat.''

Moya now plays unseeded Rainer Schuettler, a 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 winner over Canada's Daniel Nestor.

Hewitt was the sixth men's seed to lose. Earlier, No. 10 Wayne Ferreira, who said he was hampered by a finger injury from catching a ball in the warmup, lost 6-0, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to 19-year-old Swede Andreas Vinciguerra.

AP-NY-01-20-01 1034EST


Moya returns triumphant to Melbourne centre stage
By John Brock

MELBOURNE, Jan 20 (Reuters)(DS) - Four years ago Spaniard Carlos Moya became something of a local favourite as he marched unheralded into the Australian Open final.

But in the early hours of Sunday the former world number one crushed home fans' hopes by ending the campaign of Australian seventh seed Lleyton Hewitt at the season-opening grand slam.

Moya, who lost the 1997 final to Pete Sampras but went on to win the following year's French Open, triumphed 4-6 6-1 5-7 6-2 7-5 in a three hour 48 minute third round epic that started on Saturday night and went into Sunday.

"I knew it would be a battle like this and I never gave up," said Moya, who sank to his knees after sealing the win with a angled forehand cross-court volley that Hewitt could only just reach with his racket.

"I'm very happy the way I won this match, it's unbelievable. I have no words to describe it."

Moya, who in early 1999 became the first Spaniard to become number one since the introduction of the ATP rankings, is in the process of rebuilding his career after a debilitating lower back injury suffered at the 1999 U.S. Open.

He finished last year ranked only 41 in the world and had to watch from the sidelines as the Spanish Davis Cup team beat an Australian side containing Hewitt in last month's Cup final in Barcelona.

It was missing out on the Cup final that has helped fire Moya's enthusiasm to reclaim his place among the top echelon, and he believes he is almost beginning a second career.

HARD WORK
"I was six or seven months without being able to practise but now I've had two months of hard work," Moya said.

"I've been working very hard....and it's a great thrill to be here after making the final. Now everything is going alright. I'm healthy and giving 100 per cent.

"He's a great fighter and never gives up. I had to play really well to beat him.

"He may not have the talent of (Marat) Safin but mentally he's number one in the world."

Moya made a mixed start, spraying shots as the Australian took the first set amid a deafening crescendo of applause, made louder by the retractable roof being closed on the centre court stadium.

The resilient Spaniard regrouped quickly, however, cranking up his big groundstrokes and blazed through the second set, only to fall behind again in the next.

But after twice fighting back from a set down, Moya got the vital break in the 11th game of the fifth set when Hewitt double-faulted after having saved three previous break points.

He did not let the opening close.

To his credit Hewitt, a fan of the "Rocky" movies and known for his fist-pumping and screams of "c'mon" seemingly after every point, refused to buckle.

His on-court manner has polarised many, with Spanish player Alex Corretja having previously complained and Andre Agassi's coach, Brad Gilbert, saying on Australian radio this week that Hewitt could end up being punched on the nose in the locker room.

NO DOUBTING
But there was no doubting who the crowd wanted as Moya took on the fiesty Hewitt and a stadium full of people, including 10 women dressed in pink waving what looked to be yellow cardboard rackets every time the Australian won a point.

"It's hard to reflect on it straight after," said Hewitt, who was on court for over 10 hours in his three matches.

"It was as close as anything. At the end of the day I gave it everything I had."

Hewitt, who makes little secret that he covets an Australian Open title most of the four grand slam tournaments, said last month's Davis Cup final had not been on his mind.

He paid tribute to Moya, who next faces Rainer Schuttler of Germany in the fourth round.

"He's a class player and as soon as he starts to get confidence and starts getting those forehands going, he's going to be hard to beat."

END--http://www.dailysoccer.com/news/text/tennis/20010120/mdf26821.html


Moya stuns Hewitt in epic encounter
By Julian Linden

MELBOURNE, Jan 20 (Reuters)(DS) - Former world number one Carlos Moya staged a stirring recovery to beat Australian teenager Lleyton Hewitt 4-6 6-1 5-7 6-2 7-5 in a marathon, third round match at the Australian Open.

The 1997 Australian Open finalist sealed victory just after one o'clock on Sunday morning following an epic battle that lasted three hours 48 minutes.

MARATHON
Moya's win opened up the draw even further. After twice fighting back from a set down to force their match into a deciding fifth set, the 42nd ranked Moya got the vital break in the 11th game of the final set when Hewitt double-faulted after saving three previous break points.

"The way I won this match was unbelievable," Moya said.

"He's a great fighter, he never gives up and I had to play really well to beat him.

"He may not have the talent of (Marat) Safin but mentally he's number one in the world."

Hewitt, who had to come from a set down to beat Swede Jonas Bjorkman on Tuesday night in another five-setter, fought back from a break down to win the third set but could not get the break he needed to close out the match.

"It was as close as anything. But at the end of the day I gave everything I had," Hewitt said.

Moya will now play Rainer Schuettler for a spot in the quarter-finals after the German beat Canada's Daniel Nestor 6-4 6-2 7-5.

"I knew it was going to be a battle. I never gave up," said Moya, who is on the comeback trail after a back injury at the 1999 U.S. Open almost ended his career.

"A few people thought that I was done...but now everything is going right, I'm healthy and I'm getting back there."END--http://www.dailysoccer.com/news/text/tennis/20010120/mdf26816.html