wimb04artday1

You could almost hear the sigh of relief of Lleyton Hewitt. After last year's stutter on the opening day at Wimbledon, when he lost to Ivo Karlovic in four sets, the Australian successfully negotiated Austrian Jurgen Melzer. Safe passage to the second round was squeezed in between rain delays, the former world number one recording a swift and efficient 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 result.

For those with ambitions in SW19, Melzer is not the sort of chap to run into on the first day. So far this year he has undone a couple of big names before they had time to settle into their surroundings. Karlovic (and at 6'10", they do not come much bigger than Karlovic) was sent packing in the first round in Miami and from there Melzer went on to dispose of Tim Henman.

Still, if Melzer is good at first rounds, Hewitt is trying to call upon his memories of being rather good at final rounds. He is still not quite back to the sort of form that brought him the US Open and Wimbledon titles and the No. 1 ranking back in 2001 and 2002, but he is working on it. Then again, against Melzer, he did not need to be at his absolute best. Melzer was having a horrible day. The forehand stubbornly refused to work, Hewitt stubbornly refused to go away and after a couple of sets he knew he was on a hiding to nothing.

Hewitt, however, was taking nothing for granted. Last year against Karlovic, he had cruised through the first set with ease, missed a couple of chances in the second set and suddenly found himself on the wrong end of a hiding. This time, there would be no mistake.

As Melzer tried anything and everything to gain some sort of leverage in the second set -- he even tried racing into the net only to look a little stunned when he got there -- Hewitt knuckled down. He poured every ounce of aggression into his ground strokes (and, after being beaned a couple of times by Melzer's smashes, he had more aggression than usual), kept the Austrian guessing with a selection of lobs. When he got the vital break in the ninth game, he let rip. "C'mon!" came the familiar Australian roar and, serving out the set, he knew he was well and truly in control.

Melzer, by contrast, had had enough. He neither heard nor saw the linesman's call on set point in that second set and stood, amazed, on the baseline as Hewitt trotted to his chair for a well earned rest. Eventually he stalked over to the umpire's chair, smacked his racquet down and marched off court for a bathroom break. Nothing had changed by the time he returned. Broken again at the start of the third set, the Austrian unravelled with alarming speed.

LLEYTON Hewitt last night exorcised the Wimbledon first-round demons of 2003 with an excellent All-England Club pipe-opener against Austrian Jurgen Melzer.

In control from the outset against 42nd-ranked Melzer, the 2002 champion roared to a 6-2 6-4 6-2 victory to bury ghosts of his shock loss on the first day here last year to Croat qualifier Ivo Karlovic.

Intent on reclaiming the Wimbledon crown, Hewitt next faces either Belgian Kristof Vliegen or Georgian Irakli Labadze for a place in the third round.

Hewitt could scarcely have been more impressive, displaying much of the aggression and instinctively brilliant shotmaking selection which typified his two-year reign as world No.1.

Hewitt's triumph came soon after defending champion and arch-rival Roger Federer majestically advanced to a 6-3 6-3 6-0 centre court success over outclassed British wild card Alex Bogdanovich.

Hewitt, armed with a 7-4 record over the Swiss stylist, could play his friend and former doubles partner Federer in what looms as a titanic quarter-final next week.

The dual grand slam winner needed just 90 minutes to destroy Melzer, winning 87 points to 57 and - most important of all - not dropping serve once in the contest, while breaking Melzer's serve five times.

Hewitt opened supremely, fashioning a confidence-boosting service break as his forehand found the mark with a clean winner before drawing a volleying error from Melzer.

The South Australian survived a minor crisis in the fourth game on serve before again punishing Melzer with monstrous forehands to forge a second break and a 4-1 lead.

Hewitt pocketed the first set after only 24 minutes and immediately sought to crush Melzer's spirit.

But the Austrian defiantly resisted, signalling his intentions by needlessly jamming an overhead backhand into Hewitt's leg when an open court beckoned.

Unable to take advantage of the increasingly rare break points, Hewitt was suddenly in a dogfight.

Delighted after earning a deserved service break in the ninth game of the second set, Hewitt brought up set point with an ace before Melzer obliged with an unlikely forehand which appeared to catch the baseline.

As Hewitt strode to his courtside chair with justifiable satisfaction, Melzer stood on the baseline glaring with disbelief at American umpire Steve Ullrich.

The Austrian argued briefly before stalking out of court one for a toilet break.

Hewitt turned the screws with a service break to lead 3-1 in the third set, prompting Melzer to crudely swipe a ball high into the stands.

Seeded seventh, Hewitt was comfortable both at the net and on the baseline, where he is most at home.

Melzer simply imploded, plunging to his third defeat in as many clashes with Hewitt. Attempting to stall as rain threatened to halt what had become a rout, Melzer complained bitterly to Ullrich.

He accused the official of "not seeing anything" - but he could easily have been talking about himself.

Hewitt delivered only three double faults and won 81 per cent of his first serves to vindicate the work he has been doing with coach Roger Rasheed on the practice court.

The Adelaide right-hander cut a vastly different figure to that of last year when he was shocked by Karlovic's bold serve-volleying.

He has used the disappointment of that loss to steel himself for another run at the title and his victory last night would have sent tremors of fear through the field - even to Federer.

Hewitt Howls Past Austrian


	Monday, June 21, 2004