Hewitt, Hingis Advance at Open

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The New York Sun

Lleyton Hewitt served up a shutout, Martina Hingis needed only an hour, and Svetlana Kuznetsova neatly slid into the second round today at the U.S. Open.

Maria Sharapova and Andy Roddick hoped to keep up that run by former champions in the featured night matches.

A day after Roger Federer, Justine Henin, and the Williams sisters breezed, the favorites followed with straight-set victories.

Hewitt won all 16 points on serve in the final set and beat Amer Delic 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. The 16th-ranked Australian hit winners from all over and, changing the speed of his serves, never faced a break point.

“I tried to mix myself up to use it smartly, work the angles, not let him get into a rhythm out there where he feels like he can just go for it, lash out on a few,” Hewitt said. “I felt like I was playing on my terms.”

Kuznetsova also coasted, defeating Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3. The fourth-ranked Russian covered the court exceptionally well, especially in the final game when she did a full split going to her right and again to her left.

Despite losing both points, she quickly closed out the match. She showed a slight hobble walking off the court, but seemed fine a few minutes later.

Kuznetsova said she tried “to get to every ball back because she was missing a lot.”

“So I had to slide for the balls. I have to really be careful about my feet,” she said.

Hingis, back at Flushing Meadows a full 10 years after she won this tournament, beat Mathilde Johansson 6-0, 6-3. The 16th-ranked Swiss player had just eight unforced errors to 23 by her opponent.

Now 26, Hingis has enjoyed New York ever since her breakthrough victory as a teenager.

“Sometimes it feels like yesterday, sometimes like a lifetime,” she said. “It’s kind of funny. They put up this poster, me holding a trophy. I’m like, OK, I look really young. Short haircut, all that.”

Only two seeded players lost in early session. In a match that lasted more than four hours, No. 32 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia lost to Arnaud Clement of France 7-6 (5), 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 (6), 6-4.

On the women’s side, no. 23 Tathiana Garbin of Italy fell to Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-3.

Among the early winners were no. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, no. 12 Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, no. 20 Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina and no. 23 Juan Monaco of Argentina.

In the women’s draw, no. 11 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, no. 13 Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic, no. 26 Sania Mirza of India and no. 30 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland advanced.

While many young Americans won their first-rounders, 6-foot-6 Sam Querrey missed his chance. He dropped six set points in the first set and lost to Stefan Koubek of Austria 7-6 (1), 6-1, 6-1.

“Just kind of collapsed. Kind of got frustrated, didn’t know what to do. I was out of it a little bit,” Querrey said.


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