TNT Sports
Hewitt draws the curtains
By
Published 31/08/2005 at 18:45 GMT+1
Third seed Lleyton Hewitt brushed past Albert Costa of Spain 6-1 6-2 6-1 for a place in the U.S. Open second round on Wednesday. Australian Hewitt, the 2001 champion and beaten finalist last year, won 84 of 121 points in the one-hour 20 minute encounter o
Eurosport
Image credit: TNT Sports
Hewitt, who recently married Australian actress Rebecca Cartwright, was unruffled in the windy conditions and outplayed Costa from start to finish.
"It was just extremely difficult conditions," Hewitt said of the 86°F temperatures. "You want to get it under your belt, get into the tournament and get back into the locker room as quickly as possible."
The Australian dropped just two points in the first three games of the match, and Costa never recovered. The 2002 French Open winner had only two break points the entire match, and couldn't convert either.
Hewitt, on the other hand, converted seven of 11 breaks, including three in the last set.
He had 23 winners to Costa's nine, and only 17 unforced errors.
"I think I just handled the conditions better," Hewitt said. "I don't think these kind of conditions suit his game."
Costa made 35 errors, double-faulted five times and had no aces. He's now lost in the first round at his last five major championships.
Costa missed Wimbledon with a knee injury that required surgery, and the 30-year-old said after the match that retirement is an option.
"I want to finish this season and then decide," he said. "If I finish, I finish altogether. I can't play only on clay."
Hewitt will play Argentine Jose Acasuso, a 4-6 6-3 6-4 7-6 (13-11) victor over Luis Horna of Peru.
INJURY NEWS
Czech 23rd seed Jiri Novak pulls out of his second round match with Chilean Nicolas Massu due to a right heel injury.
WEDNESDAY WRAP-UP
In other first round results on day three at Flushing Meadows, American Taylor Dent knocked out Lars Burgsmuller of Germany 6-3 3-6 6-1 6-4.
Slovak 15th seed Dominik Hrbaty saw off clay-court specialist Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-2 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-2. Hrbaty's compatriot, Karol Kucera, beat 1998 finalist Mark Philippoussis 6-4 6-2 7-5.
Nicolas Almagro of Spain beat Dane Kenneth Carlsen 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 6-4 and Switzerland's Michael Lammer defeated Kevin Kim of the United States 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-4.
Advertisement
Advertisement