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1/23/12 3:50 PM | Cheryl Murray
Top seed Novak Djokovic was forced to work for it, but the Serb advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
For just over two sets, Novak Djokovic utterly dominated Lleyton Hewitt. The crowd was itching to work itself into the match, but for the first and second sets, Hewitt was struggling to hold serve. Of the four games the Aussie took in the first pair of frames, two of them were service breaks.
Djokovic dominated to start the third set as well. Hewitt fell in a 3-0 hole when Djokovic took his foot off the gas. A loose service game allowed Hewitt to get back on serve and suddenly the Aussie had new life.
The crowd, some of whom had already left the stadium after Hewitt went down a break in the third, was delighted to have something to cheer for. As errors crept into Djokovic’s game, Hewitt began to move better, hit better and return better.
At 4-4, Djokovic was once again broken as Hewitt capitalized on a few loose points to earn himself the right to serve out the set.
The Aussie’s service game at 5-4 was not routine. Djokovic put Hewitt through his paces. Hewitt gave Djokovic enough looks at second serves that the Serb was able to save three set points and even to earn a break-point opportunity which Hewitt erased with a lovely cross-court shot at net.
Hewitt was eventually able to hold serve and secure the third set, but Djokovic went right back to work in the fourth. One more service break for the Serb gave him the four-set win and the chance to move into the quarterfinals to face David Ferrer.
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Hewitt at 30, was still so quick around the court. After watching the match, I'm full of admiration for him, what a fighter! He was able to go toe to toe with Nole in some rallies and was hitting some deep and penetrating shots, and sometimes after those, he moved in and attack at the net, very intelligent play.
I can see now why Hewitt was a slam winner during his younger days, he must be moving very well and quickly around the court back then. He did have positive H2H against Fed before Fed became TMF. Well done Hewitt!
luckystar , 1/24/12 12:58 AM
Jeez, what the heck happened? I had to leave the screen at 2 sets to love up, and I checked the scores on my mobile, it was 3 0 in the third to Nole. Oh well, I guess its good to have a test before the big ones.
Anyway, I think Nole needs to do two things, based on the evidence of what I saw in the first two sets. First, play more within himself instead of going for so many low percentage drills. Hewitt is one of those players who will eat up pace when he's on song, there needs to be a mix of pace and spin from Nole in his forthcoming matches. Secondly, his serve was awful even in the first two sets. Critical that he gets it working, since he was broken quite a few times last match, a returner as good as Murray will be a much greater threat.
Props to Hewitt for making it a good match. He must feel good about his chances of a memorable season - relatively speaking.
samprallica , 1/24/12 6:44 AM
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Novak Djokovic 
Lleyton Hewitt 
Frankly, it's an achievement that Hewitt managed to take a set of Nole. On that basis there's hope yet then that Rafa can at least take one set and force a tie breaker against Nole in any future match.
lebsta2 , 1/23/12 8:25 PM