Hewitt Breaks Losing Moya Streak
By Simon Cambers

DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - World number one Lleyton Hewitt earned a psychological boost before next week's French Open (news - web sites) by breaking a four-match losing streak against Carlos Moya (news) at the World Team Cup on Thursday.

Hewitt matched Moya from the baseline to claim a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory and put his team ahead against Spain in the Red Group.

But his joy was short-lived as Alex Corretja (news) beat Wayne Arthurs to level the scores before Spain won the deciding doubles to clinch a 2-1 victory.

Spain's first win this week was too late to prevent them going out of the tournament as the Czech Republic reached Saturday's final by coming from behind to beat the U.S. 2-1 and top the Red Group with three wins and no defeats.

The Czechs will now face either Argentina or Chile, who meet on Friday to decide the winners of the Blue Group.

Hewitt was delighted after claiming his third singles win of the week. "It's a nice little confidence boost for me," he said.

"I feel like it was probably one of my best matches on clay and to know you can match it with these guys just a few days before the French is a good feeling."

Hewitt took full advantage of a sluggish Moya to wrap up the first set in 32 minutes.

But Moya, who had won their last four meetings in straight sets, woke up and after breaking at the start of the second set broke twice more to level the match.

Hewitt broke for 2-1 in the decider, but two games later a sloppy forehand cost him the lead and Moya was back on terms at 3-3. Moya then dropped his serve to 15, double-faulting to hand Hewitt the advantage again.

This time the Australian held serve for 5-3 and clinched victory with a rasping forehand pass down the line.

"I took it to him, really tried to be aggressive, to play my game and not let Carlos dictate the points," said Hewitt.

His compatriot Arthurs let slip a one-set lead as he was beaten 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 by a resurgent Corretja, who won his second singles match of the tournament.

Spain completed their first overall victory of the week when Corretja and Fernando Vicente teamed up to beat Mark Philippoussis (news) and Todd Reid 6-1, 6-1.

In the day's other match, James Blake put the U.S. 1-0 up against the Czech Republic with his first singles win of the week. The American recovered from a break down in the deciding set to beat world number 14 Jiri Novak 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

"To know I can effectively play with these top 10 guys is a good feeling," Blake said. "I had lost five matches in a row and I was in a bit of a rut, but today I found that happy medium for a while."

Radek Stepanek restored parity for the Czechs with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Todd Martin (news) in the second singles and Stepanek and Novak edged Blake and Mardy Fish 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 to clinch their place in Saturday's final.

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Hewitt can't save Aussies

23may03

LLEYTON HEWITT beat his clay court bogeyman Carlos Moya for the first time in five matches today but it was not enough to put Australia into the final of the World Team Cup in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Hewitt beat Moya 6-2 3-6 6-3 but Australia dropped their final round-robin tie with Spain 2-1 after losses to Wayne Arthurs in the singles and the last-minute doubles pairing of Mark Philippoussis and Todd Reid.

Arthurs started well against Alex Corretja, ranked 41 places above him at No.17, winning the first set 6-3.

But Corretja struck back to take the match 3-6 7-5 7-5 and restore some pride for the Spaniards, who were already out of finals contention.

Philippoussis and Reid, the junior Wimbledon champion, then turned in a forgettable performance to lose the doubles 6-1 6-1 to Corretja and Fernando Vicente.

In the end, it made no difference as the undefeated Czech Republic beat the United States 2-1 to progress to tomorrow's final against Chile or Argentina.

Hewitt's win over the world No.4 was an impressive effort on a slow, rain-affected clay court.

But he discounted his claims to favouritism despite describing the match as one of his best on clay.

"You can let everyone else be favourite. I couldn't care less," he said.

He also said he couldn't care less about ending Moya's winning streak, but admitted the win had given him confidence.

"It's a nice little confidence booster for me," he said.

"I felt like I played one of my best matches on clay out there today. I was aggressive the whole time, I played my game and didn't let Carlos dictate too much and determine how he wanted to play, and that was probably the telling point.

"Even though I lost the second set, I only had one game in the whole second set that I didn't have game point. I was getting a little bit frustrated out there because I knew I was playing well and hitting the ball well – I just wasn't able to win those few points.

"I felt like I was probably the better player for most of the second set but on the scoreline I was lucky to get three games.

"It was a good confidence booster for me to know that I can match it with those guys a few days before the slam starts."

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Hewitt receives French Open boost

DUSSELDORF, Germany (AFP) - Lleyton Hewitt's confidence is growing as he prepares to go into next week's French Open (news - web sites) as the number one seed following his singles victory at the World Team Cup.

He claimed a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win over James Blake and Australia sealed victory over the United States when Wayne Arthurs followed up by beating Todd Martin 7-6 (7/4), 7-5.

Hewitt was never in trouble against Blake, breaking serve in the first game and sweeping the last four games of the first set. Although Blake broke to lead 3-2 in the second, Hewitt responded by again winning four straight games to claim the match.

"It was very heavy out there again today, so to go just over an hour and be done is pretty nice," said Hewitt. "I felt like I played pretty well. I stepped it up again today.

"I felt I was pretty aggressive right from the start and I felt like I was moving well, and getting a lot of balls back and making him play that extra shot a lot of the time."

Hewitt has never gone beyond the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, and he is approaching the challenge of next week with caution.

"I've won at least a couple of matches here already and my confidence is pretty good, but a lot is going to depend on the day and who I'm playing," he warned.

"I can go out there and get through matches comfortably or I could be into a grind. I'm not going to be reading a hell of a lot into my results here this week, but on the other hand it's good to have some good preparation and match practice going in."

Arthurs was forced to be patient as he failed to convert nine break points against Martin. But a simple volley when the American slipped gave him a 10th opportunity at 6-5, and he closed out the match when Martin put a forehand into the net.

Spain and the Czech Republic were level at 1-1 as darkness forced the doubles to be postponed until Wednesday.

Alex Corretja, who had won just two of eight clay court matches this season, earned a welcome 6-4, 6-4 victory over Radek Stepanek, and Jiri Novak saved three match points on the way to beating Carlos Moya 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2.

The World Team Cup consists of two groups of four teams. The teams in each group play each other on a round-robin basis, with each tie consisting of two singles matches and a doubles.

The winning team from each group advances to Saturday's final and competes for the 440,000-euro first prize

Hewitt can't save Aussies
From correspondents in Dusseldorf
May 19, 2003

LLEYTON HEWITT finally discovered his clay court form to overwhelmed the Czech Republic's Jiri Novak 6-3 6-2 on the opening day of the World Team Cup here today.

But the Czechs hit back to win the tie. Radek Stepanek beat Wayne Arthurs 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 in the second singles then combined with Novak to defeat Hewitt and Arthurs 6-4 6-4 in the doubles. Having struggled in Hamburg, playing six hours of tennis to win two matches before losing the third, the Australian was delighted to claim victory over an accomplished clay-court opponent.

"I felt like I played pretty well out there," said Hewitt.

"I stepped it up from last week, which is good. Jiri's a tough player, especially on clay. He's a big guy and can hit through the slowness of the court, and the rain overnight made the courts even heavier.

"It was tough for anyone to hit winners, so strategy was the thing, to try and move the ball around and wait to take advantage of the short ball."

Although a champion on hard courts and grass, Hewitt admits he is still very much on a learning curve when it comes to clay.

"I still feel clay is a learning experience for me at the moment," he said.

"It's tough for me to come out and play just a few tournaments and expect to be playing my best tennis on a surface I didn't grow up playing on. But I feel like when I'm playing well and I'm confident my game can suit clay pretty well. I've got to play even better if I've got any chance of winning the French, but I feel like I can go up another notch, which is good."

It appeared as if Stepanek would have to retire against Arthurs after injuring his left ankle when trailing 4-2 in the first set.

But a rain break allowed the Czech to receive some intensive treatment and, although Arthurs held two set points at 5-3, Stepanek recovered to win and level the tie.

And the Czechs wrapped it up with a comfortable doubles success.

16/5 2003 The draw of the 26th ATP World Team Championship.
 
The favorite Spain will have to face Czechia, Australia and the USA in the Red Group. The titleholder Argentina will play against Germany, Chile and Sweden in the Blue Group. The opening games on Sunday at 11.00 a.m. will be between Spain v USA and Australia v Czech Republic.

Singles:
1. Lleyton Hewitt vs. Jiri Novak
2. Wayne Arthurs vs. Radek Stepanek
Doubles will take place after a 30 to 45 minute break.