2011 AAMI Kooyong Classic: Lleyton Hewitt edges past top Russian seed Mikhail Youzhny
2011 saw the start of its second exhibition event when the AAMI Kooyong Classic kicked off on Wednesday. An invitation-only event, the tournament comprises only of singles matches and is played at the Kooyong Stadium in Kooyong,
Melbourne.
Eight players are invited to the event and seeded according to their present ranking. Starting off the event was fifth seed Gael Monfils as he met and defeated second-seeded defending champion Fernando Verdasco.
Following these two on the courts was local favourite Lleyton Hewitt as he met world number ten (and top Russian seed) Mikhail Youzhny.
Hewitt is playing at his second event of the year, having kicked off the season as part of team Australia at the 2011 Hopman Cup last week. Hewitt started the New Year with a victory against Belgian Ruben Bemelmans to allow Australia
a win against Belgium. However, he lost his second rubber to world number three Novak Djokovic, costing Australia its chances in the final.
Hewitt, the only Aussie in the top 100, finished last year ranking 54th in the world. The only final he played last season was at Halle 2010, where he clinched his only title win of the year by defeating world number
two Roger Federer. He also won a doubles crown last season, partnering with Mark Knowles at the Barcelona Open.
Youzhny on the other hand enjoyed his best season yet, finishing for the first time in the top 10. Youzhny clinched two titles in the year, winning them at the BMW Open in Munich and at the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur. He played
three more finals at the World Indoor Tournament in Rotterdam, the Dubai Open and the St. Petersburg Open. He failed to defend his Kremlin Cup title at Moscow, withdrawing due to a viral infection. A back injury also forced him to pull out of the Paris Masters
and retire for the rest of the year.
Not having participated in any tournament of the season-opening triad, Youzhny will be playing his first event of 2011 at Kooyong. Playing his first match of the New Year, Youzhny met Hewitt for the sixth time on the courts. Their
last meeting had come in 2010 when they met at the Rome Masters. Having defeated Youzhny then, Hewitt entered the match on Wednesday with a 4-1 lead in their head-to-head score.
Winning the toss, Youzhny served in the opener clinching it with a powerful ace at 40-0. However, this was not the break the Russian was hoping for. With each player winning games on their serve the score was tied for ten games.
In the eleventh game, the Aussie finally broke through the Russian’s serve and won two successive games to secure a 7-5 victory in the first set.
Going into the opener of the second set, Youzhny rushed into the lead and maintained it to win it 6-4. With one set each, the match entered the decider. Bouncing back from the set loss in the second, Hewitt fought back long and
hard to reverse the score and win the decider 6-4. This marked Hewitt’s fifth victory over the Russian (though being an exhibition match it doesn’t contribute to the official head to head).
Proving that rankings aren’t everything, and visibly pleased with his performance, Hewitt said, “For me, the ranking takes care of itself. It's not something I focus on. I feel when I play my best tennis, the quality of it is definitely
in the top 10.”
Hewitt moves ahead to meet Youzhny’s compatriot Nikolay Davydenko in the semis while Youzhny moves into the play-offs to meet world number six Tomas Berdych in the first round.
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