[情報] Hewitt revs up attacking game
※ [本文轉錄自 Tennis 看板]
作者: zerkchu (zerkchu) 看板: Tennis
標題: [情報] Hewitt revs up attacking game
時間: Sun Jan 4 23:34:36 2004
Hewitt revs up attacking game
By Scott Coghlan
January 5, 2004
LLEYTON HEWITT signalled his intentions for 2004 - more aggression, more attack - when he brushed aside Hungary's Attila Savolt yesterday in straight sets to seal a win for Australia in their opening tie.
Hewitt needed less than an hour to despatch Savolt as Australia completed a clean sweep of the Hungarians in Group B on the opening day of the tournament proper in Perth.
Alicia Molik gave Australia the early ascendancy with a fighting win against Petra Mandula in the women's singles, before Hewitt sealed the tie emphatically.
They then completed the formalities with a straight-sets win in the mixed doubles over the Hungarians, who qualified for the tournament with a win over Canada on Saturday.
In his first game since helping to secure the Davis Cup for Australia last month, Hewitt showed he had regained some of the killer instinct that was missing at times last year.
The former world No.1 broke Savolt twice in each set, claiming the last four games of each to win 6-2 6-2 and maintain his unbeaten record against the 27-year-old Hungarian.
Savolt, who is ranked 175 in the world, had no answer as Hewitt hit three winners to every one of his.
Hewitt, renowned as one of the great fighters in tennis, said after the win he was looking to be more of an initiator on the court.
"I felt like I was pretty aggressive out there today," Hewitt said.
"Even though I hit a couple more unforced errors, I am still pushing and dictating points a lot more. I'm trying to be a little bit more aggressive.
"I am trying to consistently do that.
"You have got to keep doing it in practice. Sometimes it doesn't pay off, but in a couple of my biggest matches in the Davis Cup it did pay off."
Hewitt said he had also been working on developing extra strength, adding 4kg to his light frame, and taking his already famed fitness to another level.
"I took two weeks off and then got straight back into training, pretty much where I left off before the Davis Cup final," Hewitt said.
"I've hardly taken a day off since - I've been training pretty hard and it has been really hot weather in Adelaide as well, so that's been good for me."
Hewitt was content with his performance and said he was pleased to open the Hopman Cup, where he and Molik were runners-up last year, with such an easy win.
"I played well - very well," he said.
"I felt like I got on his serve a little bit and then was really able to work him around and open up a few weaknesses in his game.
"It's nice to come away with a pretty straight-forward win."
Molik took a leaf out of Hewitt's never-say-die book when she climbed off the canvas to beat Mandula in three sets.
Molik lost the first set and was down 5-2 in the second set tiebreak, but stormed back to win 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 in one hour and 45 minutes.
The 36th-ranked South Australian won 16 of the last 19 points of the match as Mandula, ranked just four places lower than Molik, crumbled.
"It was just a matter of gritting it out," Molik said.
The Australians won the mixed doubles 7-6 (7-5) 6-1.
Hewitt's fiancee Kim Clijsters starts her Hopman Cup and 2004 campaign today when Belgium play the Slovak Republic in another Group B clash. Clijsters faces a talented opponent first up in the form of Daniela Hantuchova, who has been ranked as high as No.5.
Hantuchova's team-mate, Karol Kucera, plays the unpredictable Xavier Malisse.
In the evening session, the Russian team of Anastasia Myskina and Marat Safin is up against the French pairing of Amelie Mauresmo and Fabrice Santoro.
The women's singles match shapes as one of the best of the tournament, with the fourth ranked Mauresmo against Myskina, the highest ranked Russian at No.7.
Safin will be looking for a good start to the year, after struggling with a wrist injury last year and slipping to No.77.
However, he has won just once in eight meetings with Santoro.
The Australian
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