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Fabulous form Hewitt rolls over Corretja, extends winning stretch to 12
Posted: Friday January 21, 2000 12:06 AM
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Was it a set? Was it a match? No, it was one solitary game. When Spaniard Alex Corretja, who was trailing 6-0, 6-0, 4-0, held serve for the first time Thursday against Lleyton Hewitt in the second-round of the Australian Open, the center court crowd burst into rapturous applause. After winning 16 successive games, Hewitt was within sight of becoming only the sixth player in the open era to notch a triple bagel in a Grand Slam and only the first at the Australian Open. But Corretja, who last year rose as high as No. 2 in the world, survived the most embarrassing moment of his life. Unlike the home crowd's generous applause for the luckless Spaniard, Hewitt wasn't happy about surrendering even one game in the 6-0, 6-0, 6-1 result. Typical of the 18-year-old Australian, who came to Melbourne as leader in the ATP Champions' Race following back-to-back tournament titles in Adelaide and Sydney, Hewitt said he was disappointed. "I was 4-0 and 0-15 but Alex played really well in that game -- I was a bit disappointed" not to create a new record, he said. "I don't care if it's 6-0 or 8-6 in the fifth [set], I'm going for every point," he said. "I'm out there to win every game and give 100 percent. "I'm not the kind of player who is going to hold back on anything." Has he ever played better? "Probably not," said Hewitt after extending his winning stretch to 12 matches. "I've won 12 on the trot ... it's hard to be feeling any better or more confident on the court." He brought up match point by chasing a wide serve and returning with a searing crosscourt forehand. And, even with the result a formality, he rewarded himself with his trademark clench-fisted punch accompanied by a: "C'mon." But despite the obvious copetitive edge to his nature, Hewitt said he did feel a tinge of pity for his rival. "I tried not to look at him," he said. "I wouldn't like to be in that situation -- on center court against a guy playing in front his home crowd. It must have been a bit embarrassing for him." For his part, Corretja said if he'd known he could create a record by being the first 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 loser at the Australian Open "maybe I would have loved to be in the history." "They always say you can find something good [but] to be in the history result, I don't know if I like it so much," he said. "I hope I can come back and make some history but in a good way." Corretja said he knew the match was going to be "catastrophic" after slumping 6-0 in the first set and going down a break early in the second. "It's clear he is playing great, he is motivated," he said. "Even when he was beating me, really he was on the court, it shows he is really pumped and he can go really far." With nine seeded players bundled out in the first two rounds, a run at a Grand Slam title is opening up for Hewitt. But he's not thinking any further ahead than his third-round match against Romanian Adrian Voinea, despite the fact he knows defending titlist and No. 2 seeded Yevgeny "Kafelnikov is lurking somewhere down there ... [in] the draw."
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