|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
Men's Tennis
|
|
Women's Tennis
|
| |
|||
| Thursday, June 21 |
|||
| Hewitt topples Ivanisevic Reuters | |||
DEN BOSCH, Netherlands -- Top seed Lleyton Hewitt
brushed past former Wimbledon runner-up Goran Ivanisevic 6-4, 7-5
on Thursday to reach the Heineken Trophy men's quarterfinals.
The Australian was followed into the next round by his
girlfriend, women's top seed Kim Clijsters, who booked a
semifinal place with a tidy 6-3, 6-4 win over 1999 champion
Kristina Brandi of the United States.
Clijsters, playing in her first event since losing to
Jennifer Capriati in the final of the French Open, will next meet
an increasingly confident Jelena Dokic.
The fourth-seeded Yugoslav was in ruthless form for her
quarter-final, disposing of fifth seed Henrietta Nagyova of
Slovakia 6-2, 6-0 in just 42 minutes.
The other semifinal will feature second-seeded Belgian
Justine Henin against Uzbekistan's Iroda Tulyaganova, both having
advanced at the expense of Russian opponents.
Henin, who lost to Clijsters in the semifinals at Roland
Garros, eased past Elena Bovina 6-4, 6-4, while Tulyaganova
rallied to beat seventh seed Tatiana Panova 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4.
His long blond hair and ponytail replaced by a close-cropped
crewcut, Hewitt needed just over an hour to trim Croatian wild
card Ivanisevic and keep his 100 percent grasscourt record this
season intact.
Coming off a successful defense of the Queen's Club title in
London on Sunday, the 20-year-old Australian continued to play
with supreme confidence, claiming the only break of the opening
set to take control of the match.
The contest produced its expected share of fireworks, the
volatile Ivanisevic slamming his racket into the turf and then
kicking it after Hewitt recorded the decisive break in the second
set to go ahead 6-5 and then served out for the match to secure
his seventh consecutive win on grass.
"I give myself a good chance at Wimbledon, an outside
chance," said Hewitt, who had a confidence-boosting win over
seven times champion Pete Sampras on the way to retaining his
Queen's Club title.
"I've never been past the third round but I feel like I've
played enough big matches that it shouldn't be a telling factor
that I've never been that far before.
"I'm feeling good.
"The last week and a half has been really enjoyable," added
Hewitt, who is seeded fifth at Wimbledon but lost in the first
round of last year's tournament.
While Hewitt is convincing more and more people that he has a
legitimate chance to lift the Wimbledon title this year,
Ivanisevic, a finalist in 1992, 1994 and 1998, does not believe
the Australian's time has come.
"I don't think he can win this year," said Ivanisevic, who
will be making his 14th appearance at Wimbledon. "Personally I
wouldn't bet on him this year but in the future I would.
"In the future he's going to be a very dangerous player on
grass."
Hewitt said his new haircut came courtesy of "some mates" who
had come to Europe to see him play.
"No real reasons, the boys came over from Australia with a
few clippers and decided to cut it off," he said. "It's something
different, no real reason.
"We were going to do it Spain if we won but just got edged
out there, so now is as good a time as any."
He next meets Belgian qualifier Gilles Elseneer, who advanced
with a 6-4, 6-7 (0), 6-0 win over Swede Magnus Gustafsson.
A Hewitt win on Friday could set up an intriguing semifinal
against another player with an outside Wimbledon chance, Roger
Federer.
After a sluggish start to the tournament, the Swiss player
has been in devastating form, steamrollering into the final eight
with a 6-0 6-1 demolition of Dutch wild card John van Lottum.
Up next for Federer is another Dutchman, Raemon Sluiter, who
secured his place in the next round when Frenchman Nicolas Escude
was forced to retire from their match with a sore back while
trailing 4-1.
 Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories | |
ALSO SEE Thursday's results Clijsters rolls to easy win at Heineken Trophy tourney | |
|
|