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| March 11, 2003 | Tuesday | Muharram 7, 1424 |
Hewitt wins battle of Australians
SCOTTSDALE (Arizona), March 10: Top seed Lleyton Hewitt defeated fellow Australian Mark Philippoussis 6-4 6-4 on Sunday to win the Scottsdale Classic title for the second time.
The world’s number one ranked player needed just 85 minutes to defeat Philippoussis, recording one service break in each set to claim his first tournament tile of the year and 18th of his career.
Hewitt only entered the tournament at the last minute as a wild card entry and he hadn’t played in more than a month before arriving at Scottsdale.
But his game showed little rust all week, as he sailed into the final where he had a relatively easy time improving his lifetime record against Philippoussis to 3-1.
Philippoussis, a former Scottsdale champion, was hoping to end a two-year victory drought.
His last win came at Memphis in 2001.
It was the first All-Australian title match on the ATP Tour since April 16, 2000, when Andrew Ilie defeated Jason Stoltenberg in the Atlanta finals.
DELRAY BEACH (Florida): Jan-Michael Gambill won his second International Tennis Championship title in three years on Sunday, downing Mardy Fish 6-0 7-6 in an all-American final.
The fourth seed captured his third career title by prevailing 7-5 in a tight tiebreak after he had overwhelmed Fish in the first set.
Gambill opened the 90-minute match with an ace and ended it in similar fashion, taking advantage of Fish’s lack of ATP finals experience, especially in the first set.
The unseeded Fish was making his first appearance in a final and it showed early.
Gambill broke him three consecutive times on sharp returns in the first set and Fish really never recovered from that onslaught.
Fish did take a 3-0 lead in the second set, but Gambill quickly recovered to make it 3-3 before the set eventually came down to the tiebreaker.
Gambill is now 3-0 lifetime against Fish, who despite the loss will move into the top-60 in the ATP rankings for the first time this week.
Fish couldn’t control his powerful serve in the first set and quickly saw his streak of winning 36 consecutive service games come to an end.
INDIAN WELLS (California): Top seed Kim Clijsters and defending champion Daniela Hantuchova both had to struggle before advancing to the fourth round of the $2.1 million Pacific Life Open on Sunday.
Plagued by her won erratic play and a creative opponent, Clijsters had to battle valiantly late in both sets in a 7-5 6-4 victory over Italy’s Francesca Schiavone.
Clijsters will face France’s Nathalie Dechy who won a tremendous fight over Italy’s Silvia Farina Elia 3-6 6-4 6-4.
For her part, Hantuchova had to come form a break down in the first set to topple Katarina Srebotnik 7-6 6-2.
Hantuchova will face 16th seed Amanda Coetzer, who took out American Lisa Raymond 6-0 6-3.
Eighth seed Chanda Rubin of the United States also advanced with an easy 6-1 6-3 victory over Croatia’s Jelena Kostanic.
Rubin will play Scottsdale winner Ai Sugiyama of Japan, who upset 10th seed Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria 6-4 6-3.
Clijsters has struggled with her consistency since losing the Scottsdale final to Sugiyama last week.
While she can be overpowering at times, the Belgian hasn’t quite found her form.
She was broken to 4-5 in the first set, but Schiavone appeared to lose her confidence and the Belgian ran off the last three games.
Clijsters was broken again to 1-2 in the second set, but broke back to 3-3.
With Schiavone serving at 4-5, the Italian shanked a forehand long and then couldn’t handle a hard backhand down the line return of serve from the Belgian.
Hantuchova struggled with Srebotnik’s all-court game in the first set, but jumped on the Slovenian in the tiebreak, pasting winners with her long, smooth groundstrokes.
In the second set, the 18-year-old played her best tennis, frequently hitting behind Srebotnik and dominating the court with her bullet forehand.
The third-seeded Hantuchova, who won her first title here last year, hasn’t won a crown since she upset Martina Hingis for the 2002 title.
But the Slovakian feels very comfortable on the Indian Wells centre court.
Results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Third round: 1-Kim Clijsters (Belgium) beat 31-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 7-5 6-4; 3-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat 27-Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) 7-6 (7-4) 6-2; 21-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) beat 10-Magdalena Maleeva (Bulgaria) 6-4 6-2; 16-Amanda Coetzer (South Africa) beat 18-Lisa Raymond (U.S.) 6-0 6-3; 26-Conchita Martinez (Spain) beat Barbara Rittner (Germany) 0-6 6-3 6-3; 15-Nathalie Dechy (France) beat 17-Silvia Farina Elia (Italy) 3-6 6-4 6-4; Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland) beat Cara Black (Zimbabwe) 7-6 (7-3) 6-0; 8-Chanda Rubin (U.S.) beat Jelena Kostanic (Croatia) 6-1 6-3—Reuters
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