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.
(Agencies via China Daily January 22, 2008)