MELBOURNE PARK, Australia – Australia will have two men in the round of 16, the first time since 2004 as Lleyton Hewitt eliminated 23rd seed Milos Raonic 4-6, 6-3 7-6(5), 6-3 to join countryman Bernard Tomic.
Currently ranked at 181 in the world, the former No 1 Hewitt needed a wild card just to get into the tournament. “Obviously a couple of months ago, I didn’t know if I’d be able to play, “said Hewitt. “Yeah, obviously I didn’t play much tennis last year. I always wanted to play this tournament. I’ve done a lot of hard work. It’s only my close friends and team that know what we’ve done to get here.
”It’s never easy playing guys like Milos or, you know, Roddick, big servers. For quite a while they’ll go through their service games, if they’re making their first serves, it’s hard to get into those games and put much pressure on. It’s about trying to build as much pressure as possible.
“The games I was able to break, in the second set he hit a couple loose shots purely because I was getting his first serve back. Yeah, you just have to find a way of getting it back sometimes. As the match went on, I started returning a lot better.
“The game I broke early in the fourth set was a great game. I started off, hit a 215, 220 or something serve. I hit it at his shoelaces to start the game. I really tried to step it up as the match went on.”
A change in momentum came in the third set tiebreak. “Yeah, it was ebbing and flowing sort of both ways,” explained Hewitt. “I was on serve. I probably had a small opportunity. I was in one of his service points early on. We changed ends at 3 All.
“Then I played really well to get up 6 3 serving. Just couldn’t quite find the spot. I hit one first serve in. The other one I missed the first serve.
“He played a little bit more aggressive on those two points, sort of went for it a little bit. Then at 6 5, I got a little bit lucky obviously with him missing a high volley.
But under pressure, nothing’s easy out there.”
“He was more steady,” said Raonic. “He was more constant the whole match. I was more up and down. It’s going to win the race that way.
“I guess it’s unfortunate in a way because I felt like I had the ability to win, but I just didn’t do it.”
Experience paid off for Hewit, noted the young Canadian. “I’m only going to keep learning. As much as I hate to really look at anything positive out of today, it’s a learning experience. There’s so much to take from it.
“I’m probably just a little stubborn at the moment now and I won’t listen really to too much. But when the time comes, I’ll open up my ears, I’ll learn from it and hopefully be better next time.”
The 30-year-old Australian has the daunting task of playing World No. 1 Novak Djokovic for a berth in the quarterfinals.
Karen Pestaina for Tennis Panorama News
