What a match! Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt is still alive at this year’s US Open after he came from two sets to one down to oust 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro in what will go down as a match for the ages.
Given the match was between two former champions, with Hewitt winning 12 years ago and del Potro as recently as 2009, the match deserved to be played on a big stage, and so it was.
The match was given top billing on Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest Grand Slam tennis venue in the world and one of the most electric when it comes to the crowd and the environment.
Hewitt had not played there since a third-round loss to Roger Federer in 2009, ironically the year the Argentine saluted before a serious wrist injury threatened to make his stay at the top a short one.
The venue has seen so many of Hewitt’s career highlights and lowlights, including, among others, his first Grand Slam title in 2001, a classic five-set, quarter-final victory over Andy Roddick in the same year, a controversy involving a line judge in a match against James Blake and a loss to Roger Federer in the 2004 final.
Having been given the chance to prove that he is anything but a spent force on Arthur Ashe, Hewitt delivered one of his best performances in recent times to send one of the contenders for the 2013 title crashing out in the second round.
In a match played over just four hours, the two ex-champions traded blows and it appeared as though recent form would count when del Potro, having dropped the first set, went up two sets to one as night fell in New York.
But Hewitt is never one to give up, as we have seen so many times throughout his career. Whether it’s comebacks from two sets to love down, victories as the underdog or proving the doubters wrong, he’s done it all.
The fourth set went to a tiebreak, which Hewitt dominated (seven points to one) to send the match to a deciding fifth set.
From there, anybody could win it, and it was Hewitt who delivered the final knockout blow to del Potro’s title hopes, winning the lopsided final set 6-1.
Hewitt’s victory has got to rank as among the great five-set victories he has enjoyed throughout his career. Including this victory, here is a list of my top ten Lleyton Hewitt five-set victories:
10. versus Sjeng Schalken, quarter-finals, Wimbledon 2002
9. versus Ivo Karlovic, first round, 2009 French Open
8. versus Robin Haase, first round, Wimbledon 2008
7. versus Radek Stepanek, fourth round, Wimbledon 2009
6. versus David Nalbandian, quarter-finals, 2005 Australian Open
5. versus Andy Roddick, quarter-finals, 2001 US Open
4. versus Marcos Baghdatis, third round, 2008 Australian Open
3. versus Juan Martin del Potro, second round, 2013 US Open
2. versus Rafael Nadal, fourth round, 2005 Australian Open
1. versus Roger Federer, 2003 Davis Cup semi-finals
Onto serious matters now, and by reaching the third round here, Hewitt has matched his performance from last year, where he lost in four sets to Spaniard David Ferrer.
This Friday night men’s feature match was a far cry from the same timeslot last year, when Bernard Tomic put in a listless performance against Andy Roddick, earning the ire of ESPN commentator John McEnroe who criticised the young Australian for “tanking” – an issue which continues to plague his career.
And once again it was del Potro who was responsible for trying to derail the title defence of Serena Williams, who had to wait until 11:30pm local time to play her match against Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova, who had pushed her to a 7-5 final set at Wimbledon last year.
Williams, for her part, thrashed Shvedova as she continues her march towards a possible championship match showdown against Victoria Azarenka, and a fifth US Open title. The match finished just after 1:00am local time.
This is what I like about night tennis at the Grand Slams. There are very long, physical and draining matches, those that finish (or start) by the time half of Australia are in bed, and in one case, one that finished just before sunrise.
That latter case, ironically, also involved Lleyton Hewitt, where he defeated Marcos Baghdatis in a five-set marathon which didn’t start until just before midnight and finished about two hours before first light.
Hewitt will next face little known Russian Evgeny Donskoy in the third round, and should he get to the quarter-finals, then there could be one famous foe awaiting there – none other than world number one and career nemesis Novak Djokovic.
So just how far can Hewitt go now? Following his epic victory over Juan Martin del Potro, his third this year (but second officially), one would think that Hewitt could make a good run at Flushing Meadows, but the fact of the matter is that he hasn’t reached the fourth round since 2006.
But in the aftermath of his fighting victory, he will be daring to dream about going deep in New York.
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