Lleyton Hewitt breathed a huge sigh of relief on Friday after keeping his Wimbledon campaign alive by completing a marathon five-set victory over South Korea’s Lee Hyung-Taik.
Hewitt, the sixth seed and one of the few men seen as having a chance of stopping Roger Federer, broke Lee’s service in the tenth game of the fifth set to clinch a 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 victory in a match that had been interrupted on Thursday night at the end of the fourth set.
In total, the Australian was on court for five minutes short of four hours — far from ideal preparation for Saturday’s third-round meeting with Belgian Olivier Rochus.
Hewitt could have wrapped things up a little quicker on Friday afternoon if he had capitalised on the three break points he had on Lee’s serve in the second game of the fifth set.
The Korean saved all of those but his nerve failed him when he had to serve to stay in the match at 4-5, handing Hewitt victory with a lame forehand into the bottom half of the net.
Although he came through, Hewitt will be aware he has to improve on what was an uneven display if he is to entertain any realistic hope of reclaiming a title he won in 2002, before Federer began his run of three straight victories. — AFP
