Youth not served in men's hardcourt
Enqvist turns back defending champion Hewitt
Posted: Sunday January 10, 1999 01:00 PM
| |
Enqvist used his power to beat the young Hewitt AP |
ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) -- Thomas Enqvist of Sweden ended tennis
whiz kid Lleyton Hewitt's unbeaten run on his home soil to claim the
teenager's Adelaide hardcourt title on Sunday.
Despite winning the first set, Hewitt turned in an
uncharacteristically timid peformance in the final two sets to
fall to Enqvist's bomb-style serves and on-line winners.
Enqvist, the second seed, fought back to easily overrun the
17-year-old 4-6,6-1, 6-2 in a dream start to the year after he was
sidelined for three months last year following surgery on his right
ankle.
Hewitt expects he will remain in the top 100 -- he went into the
tournament as No. 100 -- after beating Jason Stoltenberg, Czechs
Slava Dosedel and Jiri Novak and seventh seed German Nicolas Kiefer
to earn the chance to defend his Adelaide title.
Last year at 16, Hewitt became the second youngest and
lowest-ranked singles winner in ATP Tour history after climbing
over Scott Draper, Mark Woodforde, Vincent Spadea, Andre Agassi and
Stoltenberg to win the Australian hardcourt title.
Enqvist claimed his 14th title and his first since Munich last
April in a victory expected to move him a place or two up from his
current ranking as world No. 22.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
| 
