Lleyton Hewitt prevails over Marin Cilic to advance to the third round – London Olympics
Former world number one, Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, gave some glimpses of his vintage class, as he defeated the 13th seeded Croat, Marin Cilic, in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 in the round of 32 of the London Olympics on
Tuesday.
Hewitt and Cilic made a steady start, winning their serve in the first six games and levelling the score at 3-3. The Australian snatched a break in the seventh and consolidated on it to go up 5-3. Hewitt did not allow the Croatian
contestant to come back, closing it 6-4.
The second set was even more competitive than the opener, as none of the two players managed to break other in the opening 10 games, equalising the score at 5-5. After a close battle, Cilic lost his serve in the 11th
and failed to break back, going down 5-7.
The Australian needed one hour and 36 minutes to beat his Croatian opponent.
Hewitt was extremely happy after beating the world number 14, as he said, “I didn’t do too much wrong out there today and he is a tough guy to play against, he pushes the best guys in the world on any kind of surface and I am over
the moon with the win.”
The 2002 Wimbledon champion will play the current world number two, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, in the third round. Djokovic bulldozed another former top ranked player, Andy Roddick, in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 in the previous match.
Hewitt went on to say that he watched a few glimpses of Djokovic’s match against Roddick and noticed that the Serbian played brilliantly. The Australian further added that he does not have much so lose, so, he would go out there
and enjoy his game.
The 31-year-old knows that this would be his last Olympics most probably, as he has reached the age when most of the players quit tennis. He added, “Most likely this will be my last chance at playing the Olympics for Australia
and you just want to suck it in out there.”
Hewitt also got a wild card entry into the mixed doubles draw with Samantha Stosur. The number one Australian women player stated, "I have played quite a few mixed tournaments, but not for a little while, and Lleyton and I played
together at the Hopman Cup a few years ago. Unfortunately our record is not too good, so we will definitely be looking to turn that around this time."
They are drawn to meet Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic in the first round.
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