Davis Cup teammates Lleyton Hewitt and Marinko Matosevic led an Aussie assault Tuesday as the unseeded pair gate-crashed into the second round of the ATP Tour’s Atlanta Championships.
Former number one Hewitt connected on a superlative 89 percent of his first-serve points (25 of 28) in a 6-4, 6-4 crushing of American qualifier Phillip Simmonds. Matosevic, ranked 69th and a first-round Wimbledon victim, upset Russian sixth seed Igor Kunitsyn 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 7-5. Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun, a winner over German Matthias Bachinger 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) will be the next opponent for Matosevic, who earned his first ATP victory of the season from six starts. It was only the second victory of his career on the Tour. Hewitt, the 30-year-old former number one and two-time grand slam winner now dependent on wild cards after his ranking sunk to 174th, is coming back strong from his spring foot surgery, which came in the wake of a pair of hip pops in recent years. He is playing at his lowest ranking since March 9, 1998, during his first full year on the ATP. he now stands 9-7 on the season. Hewitt, with 28 career titles, is playing a full hardcourt schedule this season prior to the US open, and hoping for free entries into Masters 1000 tests in Montreal and Cincinnati next month based upon past performance. If he cannot make a substantial rise over the next month, the 2001 winner could possibly find himself playing qualifying if a New York wild card does not materialise. Holder Mardy Fish heads the field ahead of South African Kevin Anderson and number three John Isner.
