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Lleyton Hewitt says he felt no discomfort in his hip after making a successful return to the court with a tough three-sets victory over Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer at the Hopman Cup.
Hewitt, who underwent career-saving surgery on his hip last August, put more than four frustrating months of rehab behind him with a 6-7 (8-6) 6-3 6-2 win over Kiefer, keeping Australia in the tie after world No.56 Sabine Lisicki beat Casey Dellacqua 4-6 6-2 7-5 in the women’s singles rubber.
But Australia’s hopes of winning a second Hopman Cup title was left in tatters when Germany won the mixed doubles 6-7 (7-2) 6-3 7-6 (10-5 in the match tiebreak) to take the tie.
The loss means Australia must defeat the Slovak Republic and US — plus rely on other results to go their way — to reach Friday’s final.
Hewitt, who has slipped to 70 in the world rankings, displayed his trademark doggedness throughout his singles contest as he ground down Kiefer, who has now lost all four encounters against the South Australian.
“It’s pretty good,” Hewitt said of his hip.
“I had to get a lot of balls back as well against Nicolas.
“He likes to attack from both sides of the court and had to dig out a lot of returns as well.
“It was a fair test for it.
“It was close to three hours out there and there weren’t too many average points either.”
Dellacqua, playing her first match since being grounded last September by a shoulder injury, had the chance to serve for the match at 5-4 in the third.
But the 23-year-old, who failed to serve an ace and committed 33 unforced errors, lost 12 of the last 13 points of the contest to drop the match.
“I think it (my serve) held up pretty well today considering I haven’t played a match and had to serve out as many serves as I did,” Dellacqua said when asked about her new service action.
“It’s just going to take time in getting used to not walking up to the line and thinking about technique and all those little things you just take for granted.”
Hewitt and Dellacqua have the chance to atone for their opening-round loss when they tackle the Slovak Republic pair of Dominik Hrbaty and Dominika Cibulkova on Tuesday night.
“He’s a little bit like Kiefer in terms of he wants to dictate play from the back of the court,” Hewitt said of Hrbaty, the former world No.12.
“He’s probably not quite as accomplished at the net as Kiefer is but in terms of server they’ve both got an extremely high ball toss and want to bomb their first serve, go for the big flat one.
“It’s a matter of trying to mix it up and weather the storm and get a lot of balls back in uneasy positions so he can’t dictate play.”
Dominik Hrbaty upset James Blake 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-1) to lead Slovakia to victory over the defending champion United States.
Hrbaty, coming back from a serious elbow injury last season that saw his ranking slide to No.250, gave Slovakia a winning 2-0 edge after teammate Dominika Cibulkova beat Meghann Shaughnessy 6-2 6-2 in the opening women’s singles match.
Hrbaty and Cibulkova played Shaughnessy and Blake in a later mixed doubles match.
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