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Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt made an impressive start
to his US Open campaign, outclassing Amer Delic 6-2 6-4 6-2 to
reach the second round on Wednesday.
The 2001 champion, seeded 16, outplayed the American, ranked 71, in
every department as he wrapped up victory in one hour 37
minutes.
Hewitt, who reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals in
back-to-back Masters Series events earlier this month, broke in the
opening game of the match and never looked back.
The Australian broke five times in all and now plays Argentine
Agustin Calleri or Andreas Seppi of Italy.
Hewitt has not won a grand-slam title since he lifted the trophy at
Wimbledon in 2002, but has enjoyed a good summer, pushing world
number one Roger Federer to a third-set tiebreak in the semi-finals
in Cincinnati a fortnight ago.
That near miss, Hewitt said, had further boosted his
confidence.
"In Cincinnati, I had chances throughout the match," he said.
"Every set I had opportunities to break, put pressure on. Even
though I lost in straight sets in Montreal, I felt the same way. He
just played extremely confidently on the big points when he needed
to. It's sort of second nature for him."
After winning his 26th career title in Las Vegas in March, Hewitt
suffered a series of injuries but said he had been feeling
confident ever since he reached the semi-finals in Hamburg in
May.
"I've been hitting the ball pretty well week in and week out (since
then)," Hewitt, who recently began working with Federer's former
coach Tony Roche, said.
"It makes it a lot easier when the body is going to hold up out
there as well, not having niggling injuries every second
week.
"I feel like I've been able to do the practice I've wanted to do.
At the moment it's paying off."
