Djokovic devastating in straight-sets win over Hewitt

MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic wore down the tenacious but battle-weary Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets to power into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open on Monday.

The exciting young Serbian third seed produced the full array of his blinding groundstrokes to sink the challenge of the 2005 finalist, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 in two hours, 26 minutes.

Djokovic, one of the brightest talents in the men's game and possibly just a match away from playing top seed Roger Federer in the semifinals, will take on Spain's fifth seed David Ferrer in Wednesday's quarterfinals.

It was Hewitt's first straight sets loss at the Australian Open since the fourth round of the 2000 event.

"So far I've been performing very good tennis," Djokovic said. "Today, except for that first set, the second and third sets were really good.

"I'm happy. I haven't lost a set. So it's another positive for me for the continuation of the tournament.

"It was expected for me to get to the quarterfinals, even further, but I'm taking it easy, step by step.

"Even though I was the slight favorite in the match, I was aware of the fact that he plays the best when in front of his crowd, and he's not going to give up.

"But in some moments of the match he was making some unforced errors, which helped me to get through."

Hewitt was backing up after his monumental five-set loss to Marcos Baghdatis, which had the latest finish in Grand Slam history 4:33 am (local time) Sunday.

The Australian slept for most of Sunday to recover while Djokovic had the benefit of complete rest for his fourth-round blockbuster.

Hewitt refused to blame his exhaustive schedule for his loss: "No, absolutely not. He was too good tonight."

The Serb has advanced to the quarters without dropping a set in his four matches and stretched his winning streak on hardcourt to eight matches.

He is only the second Serbian to reach the Australian quarterfinals in the Open Era (post-1968), following Slobodan Zivojinovic who went on to reach the semifinals when the Open was played on grass at Kooyong.

The 20-year-old last year reached the semifinals at the French Open and Wimbledon and finished runner-up to Federer at the US Open where he squandered seven set points in the first two sets on the way to a straight-sets loss in the final.

Djokovic didn't have the best of starts against Hewitt and was under pressure on serve and went down a break in the sixth game.

But he broke back in the eighth game after holding three break points and claimed the opening set with his second service break in the 12th, ending an hour's struggle.

Djokovic began to find his form in the second set after missing with his forehand and he recovered after dropping his serve in the third to break Hewitt twice.

The young Serb was given a time violation warning after winning a long rally to hold serve and lead 5-2.

He produced a sensational running pick-up off a Hewitt drop-shot on set-point to take a two-love lead.

It got no better for Hewitt, who dropped his opening service in the third set with Djokovic in full cry.

He again broke the tiring Australian in the seventh game, but the never-say-die Hewitt saved two match points and broke back.

But Djokovic wrapped it up in the ninth on his third match point.

AFP

(China Daily 01/22/2008 page24)