In 2003, Lleyton Hewitt beat Roger Federer from two sets down here
on Rod Laver Arena in a Davis Cup tie. The Swiss has been exacting
revenge ever since, although Roger, ever the gentleman, would never
put it that way.
But the cold facts are that Hewitt has played Federer 15
times since then and lost the lot. The latest meeting here on this
cool and sunny Australian Day was as swift and decisive as the
previous fourteen. The score of 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 reflected
Federer’s mastery of an opponent whose game meshes perfectly
with his. Federer was kind enough to make the right noises
afterwards, saying that all his matches against the feisty little
Australian are “physically and mentally very
challenging,” but if that is the case, Federer masks it well.
He strolled around court, sweeping forehands to all corners,
handling everything that Hewitt threw at him with consummate ease.
How did he rate his performance? Here we got real. “Very
high,” he replied. “Hardly made any unforced errors. If
there were some, they came at moments I can live with. I was really
able to press on the offensive, serve well when I had to and I
moved well, too.”
Nobody could argue with that and Hewitt did not try.
“Yea, he hasn’t played too many bad matches against
me,” Hewitt admitted ruefully. “He played some special
tennis. Hit the ball extremely clean and I just couldn’t get
into his service games which made it tough.”
Looking ahead to his quarterfinal against Nikolay Davydenko,
the Russian who has beaten Federer in their last two meetings, the
Swiss reflected on how Davydenko had improved over the years.
“He would not hit his first serve and, if he did, he would
miss,” said Federer. “Then he would serve a ton of
double faults. In Doha when I played him a few weeks ago, he put 27
out of 27 first serves in court clocking them at about 190 (kmh).
So it’s a bit of difference, you know -- makes it a bit more
difficult to break.”
Federer smiled at his own understatement. “I’m
in for a good match sure,” he added. “I obviously favor
my chances in a best-of-five set match.”
The 10,000 spectators on Hisense Arena were rewarded with
yet another five-setter as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Spain’s
Nicolas Almagro went at it for 3:33 before the big Frenchman came
through an entertaining slugfest 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7, 9-7. Almagro
staged a spirited comeback in the third and fourth sets but Tsonga
turned on the serving power in the fifth and Almagro found it
impossible to break him.
Back on Rod Laver Arena, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus scored
her first victory in five attempts over Vera Zvonareva of Russia
after trailing by a set and 4-2. The world No 7, who works out of
Scottsdale, Az., was warned for an obscenity as she battled
furiously to stay in the second set and eventually managed to come
up with enough sizzling backhands to pierce Zvonareva’s
normally cast-iron defense. The pace at which both women played, in
the first set especially, was breathtaking and the crowd was
treated to some of the best women’s tennis of the tournament
so far.
“The whole match was very high level, I think,”
said Azarenka. “I was able to come back because I took my
chances in the second and third sets. I am more consistent and
aggressive now and I enjoy being on court more than I used
to.”
Next up for Azarenka -- Serena Williams.
