Former champion Lleyton Hewitt got his US Open campaign off to the perfect start with a comfortable 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 first-round win over Thiago Alves of Brazil on Monday.
Former champion Lleyton Hewitt got his US Open campaign off to the perfect start with a comfortable 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 first-round win over Thiago Alves of Brazil on Monday.
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It set the Australian up for another clash with old foe Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina with the almost-certain prize of another crack at Roger Federer in the third round going to the winner of that match.
Hewitt, who beat Pete Sampras in 2001 final en route to the World No 1 ranking, was never in any danger against the Brazilian, who is ranked a lowly 106th in the world and has yet to win a single ATP Tour title.
The end came in just 1 hour, 50 minutes with a fit-again Hewitt hitting 30 winners to 22 and committing 29 unforced errors to 40 for his opponent.
It was far from perfect, Hewitt said afterwards, but it would do for now as he tries to ease himself into a tournament that has always been one of his favourites.
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| Lleyton Hewitt |
"I would have liked to have served better (47 per cent on first serve) although my second serve did hold up well. There was not a lot of pressure out there," he said.
Hewitt dropped out of the ATP top 100 in February of this year for the first time in over a decade as he battled a hip injury, but he reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and then played reasonably well in the buildup events to New York.
He lost a close one to top-tenner Juan Martin del Potro in Washington and then made it through to the last eight of the Cincinnati Masters before losing again to Federer.
The Swiss star will stand in his way again here if they both win their second-round matches, but Hewitt said he is not getting ahead of himself.
"Hopefully I will have another crack at him (Federer) but my main focus is Chela in the next round," he said.
"I haven't played him in a while but I know I will have to work hard because he will grind it out there for days.
"I have just got to play my own game and I will be OK."
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