You blew it, Hewitt

Thailand's Paradorn beats top seed at Japan Open

Bigger than beating Agassi TOKYO (AP) -- Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan, who knocked out Australia's Lleyton Hewitt in the quarterfinals of the Japan Open on Friday, said beating the world No. 1 would cost him privacy back home. "This will be big news again in Thailand. This could be bigger than when I beat Agassi at Wimbledon, because Hewitt is well-known. I can't walk on the streets in Thailand," he said. It was Paradorn's first win in three meetings with Hewitt. Hewitt served nine aces but made a number of errors and was not able to get into the match. "I had nothing to lose. He's number one in the world, if I lost then that's OK, but I was always going to play my game," Paradorn said. "The last two times ... I was a little shaky on important points against Hewitt. I learned a lot from the last times about what I'm going to do when the situation gets close or if I'm up a break." The 23-year old Paradorn will next face Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen.

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan beat world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt 6-4, 6-3 on Friday, knocking the Australian out of the US$800,000 Japan Open at the quarterfinal stage.

The eighth-seeded Paradorn overwhelmed the Wimbledon champion with aces and a stream of baseline winners, while Hewitt lacked his usual precision and committed numerous unforced errors.

"He played well, but I didn't play my best tennis...I didn't feel fresh from the start," Hewitt told a news conference. "It was his powerful play that's caused some upsets for big guys this year."

The 23-year-old Thai made headlines at this year's Wimbledon, beating Andre Agassi in the first round.

Hewitt's surprise exit comes on the heels of other upsets suffered by top seeds, and leaves the tournament with Paradorn as the sole seeded player remaining on the draw.

SWEDE COMEBACK

Swedish qualifier Magnus Norman advanced to the semifinal, winning his sixth match in seven days by downing compatriot Magnus Larsson 7-6 (5), 7-5.

Norman, a former world No. 2, outgunned Larsson with 11 aces in a repeat of his second-round upset on Thursday of Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero when he stacked up 13 aces.

"I've been playing well this week, especially yesterday. I am playing with confidence and my serve has been good," said the 26-year-old Swede.

Norman, a finalist in Roland Garros in 2000 but now ranked 210th in the world following a hip injury last year, has been showing glimpses of his old form this week, winning all six of his matches in straight sets.

"It's been a long time, tougher than I had expected it to be, to come back from injury, my first big injury," Norman said.

"But now, I've put that all behind me and looking forward to playing some good tennis."

In the women's tournament, which has also seen a number of upsets, first seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan was beaten by Croatia's Silvija Talaja 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

 

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