Lleyton Hewitt dug deep into his reserves of time-honoured grit to defeat American Donald Young on Thursday and set up an enticing third round encounter with Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.
Hewitt and Baghdatis’s last meeting at the Australian Open was another third round encounter in 2008, a five-set marathon that had both players slugging it out until after 4:30 a.m. — the tournament’s latest ever finish.
The 22nd seeded Australian won the match but Baghdatis, who rallied to defeat Spain’s David Ferrer earlier on Thursday, avenged the loss in a hard-fought three-set win at the Sydney International last week.
“We’ve played each other three times. It’s not quite like Nadal-Federer just yet,” Hewitt, wearing the Australian flag on his sleeve, told reporters after defeating Young 7-6 6-4 6-1.
“I know what to expect. He’s in good form and hitting the ball extremely clean. He’s gonna be feeling confident after winning last week.”
“Knocking off David Ferrer in five sets isn’t easy either,” said Hewitt, who was beaten in another hard-fought clash by the Cypriot at the quarter finals in Wimbledon in 2006.
Two-time grand slam champion Hewitt last major tilt at his home major was in 2005 when Marat Safin beat him in the final, but the Australian still dreams of hoisting the trophy despite the growing toll of age and injuries.
At times the dream appeared in danger against 20-year-old Young, however, whose court speed brought to mind the Australian’s own dogged scrambling in his halcyon days of 2001-2.
The 195th-ranked American’s legs brought him back to 5-4 with a set point on Hewitt’s serve, but Hewitt’s determination was enough to seal the first set in a tiebreaker 7-3 and come back from 4-2 down in the second set.
“He plays a little bit different and he’s flashy and rides a bit of a wave for a few games and then throws in a couple of suck games out of nowhere,” Hewitt added.
“He’s a lot better playing than his ranking is right at the moment. He obviously struggled with the expectation of being the next great hope for America for a while.
“He’s been (ranked) 70-odd in the world, and won’t be long before he’s back there. (Reuters)
