Hewitt survives the battle of nerves
He battled for 3 hours, 21 minutes against Taylor Dent before finally advancing to the fourth round of the season's final Grand Slam.
Lleyton Hewitt smashed the ball over the net at 183 kph (114 mph), one more time, one last ace, and then clenched his fist and punched the air, his victory over Taylor Dent at the US Open on Sunday finally secure.
This was no stroll in Flushing Meadow Park for the third-seeded Hewitt. There was No. 25 Dent, determined to take a step up by beating an elite player. There was the capricious wind, swirling around the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium. And there was a serve he thought was only average.
So, he battled for 3 hours, 21 minutes before finally advancing to the fourth round of the season's final Grand Slam. There were eight double faults, including at least one in each of the five games in which he was broken, and 36 unforced errors, too many mistakes for a former Open champion.
But in the end, Hewitt won, moved on, one more five-set survival, this time 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (2), 6-2, 7-5. It was the 10th fifth-setter he has won in the last 11 matches that have gone the limit. When it was over, the Australian was relieved. "I didn't serve great today," he said. "No doubt about that. He's not the easiest to return serves on, especially second serves."
Dent will be delighted to hear that, because he thought his serve was what left him vulnerable against Hewitt.
"I feel like I lost that match for the same reason I've lost 99 percent of matches over the last year and a half or so," he said. "My serve just really let me down today."
"It's a bit of a bummer, but I just have to take it on the chin and keep working on it."
So it came down to which player would survive a shaky serve. Without a big serve, he managed just eight aces, including the match-winner, compared to 19 for Dent, Hewitt resorted to other weapons.
"I felt I returned pretty well today," he said. "The whole match, that's what kept me in there. It was extremely tough conditions. It's swirling out there today. Taylor's never going to give you the match. He's a tough competitor out there. I had to earn it."
"I felt like I hit the ball well when I needed to. I'm not too worried."
Dent, on the other hand, continues to battle with the puzzle of his serve.
"This is the problem I'm kind of battling with, the consistency," he said. "I can go serve four aces one game and then come out the next game ... and have a couple of double-faults. I kind of compare it to a junior."
"It's the most important shot, the shot you have to have, I've tried everything I can try. It's that inconsistent thing. I'm working as hard as I can on the consistency."
Typical of Hewitt's in-and-out day was the way he finished the match.
Leading 6-5, he had three match points, three chances to finish the match, and was unable to convert. Dent even forced him to a break point that he saved, before he finally ended it with that last ace up the middle.
"I still felt like there were a lot of areas of my game that weren't quite clicking today," he said. "It was more a matter of trying to find a way to win today and get in the locker room and look forward to the next round."
Then he brightened.
"I'm still in the tournament," he said.
