Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt says behind-the-scenes scheduling dramas unsettled his build-up to his big Australian Open match with Marcos Baghdatis that led to the latest finish in grand-slam history.
The two former Australian Open finalists didn’t begin their third-round match on centre court until just before midnight on Saturday and it finally ended at 4.33am (5.33pm GMT) on Sunday.
The two-time grand-slam champion prevailed 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 in an epic of four hours and 45 minutes — and now has a curtailed preparation for his fourth-round showdown with Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic on Monday.
Organisers said they tried to move the preceding match between Venus Williams and Sania Mirza to another court to enable an earlier start for the Hewitt-Baghdatis clash, promoted heavily by the host broadcaster. But it is understood the women players stood their ground and demanded their match remain on centre court.
”It was a strange night. We actually got told that the women’s match was getting moved, that we were going to be on pretty much at 9pm,” Hewitt told his pre-dawn press conference. ”So we rushed off, both Marcos and myself, and went and practised and warmed up for about 10 minutes. We came back and got told, ‘No, the women’s match is going to stay on.’
”That was a bit of a hassle for both of us, really, because we didn’t have the best preparation and warm-up that we would have liked, and then obviously we had to sit around for a lot longer. We were both probably in two minds with the crowd and everyone who wanted us to play, but, yeah, it’s a tough situation for everyone.”
Tournament director Craig Tiley said there had been a ”miscommunication” over the possible moving of the Williams-Mirza match to another court. ”It was not confirmed, because ultimately I am the final decision-maker here, and I was still consulting with the women. I think everyone jumped the gun,” Tiley said on Sunday.
The late start was prompted by Roger Federer unexpectedly being taken to five sets by Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in another four hour-plus match on Rod Laver Arena.
Hewitt now has a less than ideal preparation time for his big showdown with Djokovic, likely to be scheduled for television interests on Monday night.
The former world number one said the unnaturally late finish would make it difficult for him to be at his best. ”Going on that late is not easy for anyone, any players, because it does throw your whole rhythm and [body] clock out quite a bit,” he said.
Hewitt is the only father in the world’s top 25 players and he spoke of the problems he faced getting adequate rest ahead of his next match. ”[Daughter] Mia will be up ready to play, probably. I’ll just sleep for as long as I feel I need it tomorrow or today, and then I’ll just start preparing and get ready for — when do I play? Monday? Tomorrow?”.
Tiley said while it was not ideal to start the match so late, the nature of tennis made it difficult to predict. ”It’s not ideal to be going that late. However, you can never predict you’re going to have those length of matches.” he said. ”There are some nights where it goes the other way around. It’s very difficult to predict the nature of the matches. The nature of the tennis last night was fantastic tennis.”
Sharapova, Henin on the move
Meanwhile, fifth seed Maria Sharapova brushed aside fellow Russian Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-0 on Sunday to set up a quarterfinal showdown with world number one and top seed Justine Henin.
Sharapova crushed her 11th-seeded opponent in little more than an hour, yelling ”That’s the way baby” after breaking Dementieva’s serve for the sixth time to end the match.
The glamorous Russian faces a tougher test the next round, a blockbuster quarterfinal against Henin, who has a 6-2 winning record against Sharapova.
But the 20-year-old is on a quest to make amends for last year’s humiliating loss in the final to Serena Williams and has displayed a steely resolve at this year’s tournament.
She was in scintillating form against Dementieva, snuffing our any resistance when her compatriot looked she could find a way into the game in the first set. The pair exchanged service breaks in the second and third games, but from there it was all Sharapova.
Dementieva managed to defend serve only one more time, taking the first set to 4-2, before Sharapova took eight games on the trot to claim victory.
The 26-year-old had her chances with four break points in the second set, but each time either Sharapova blasted a winner or Dementieva blew the opportunity with a mishit.
Henin stormed into the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-2 demolition of Taiwanese qualifier Hsieh Su-Wei. The world’s top player asserted her authority early against Hsieh, breaking her opponent in the first game.
But the Taiwanese 22-year-old immediately broke back, making the most of her moment in the spotlight after winning two tough three-setters in the early rounds of the tournament to earn her showdown with Henin.
However, the Belgian’s shot making skills proved too much for her opponent and Henin rattled through the rest of the set without losing another game. The seven-time grand-slam champion continued her charge in the second set and dominated Hsieh to go up 5-0.
The Taiwanese, the first player from her country ever to get this far in a grand slam, managed to stave off one match point, then mustered some resistance to put herself on the second set scoreboard. She defended her serve to make it 5-2, but it was only delaying the inevitable and Henin claimed victory in the next game after one hour and 14 minutes. — AFP
