Hewitt finding where the grass is greener

After his 7-5, 7-6, 6-3 third-round win, the former champion Lleyton Hewitt is looking comfortable again at Wimbledon
Lleyton Hewitt powers a backhand against Philpp Petzschner
Lleyton Hewitt of Australia returns the ball to Philipp Petzschner of Germany during his third round victory. Photograph: Hugo Philpott/EPA

There were a couple of Australian lifeguards in the crowd on Court Two yesterday, but their compatriot Lleyton Hewitt never looked like needing a lifeline as he completed his third straight-sets victory of the tournament to set up a fourth-round meeting with Radek Stepanek. Yesterday's opponent, Philipp Petzschner, had no answer for the 2002 champion's all-action game as Hewitt, one of the greatest returners in the game, looked close to his peak following the hip surgery he underwent last year.

The All England Club's newest arena seemed to have been magically transported to Bondi Beach as a highly vocal Australian contingent cheered on Hewitt in a heat so intense that one elderly woman passed out during the second set of the former World No1's 7-5 7-6 6-3 victory. At one point, stewards intervened and asked the yellow-and-green clad "Fanatics" to quieten down as they relentlessly sang songs in praise of the 28-year-old from Adelaide.

"I'm used to it. It's all sort of the same songs that I've heard so many times in Davis Cup, so for me it's sort of, it's a background noise, a lot of it. And I feed off them when I need to," said Hewitt. It is hard to tell whether it was the "background noise" or Hewitt's crushing two-handed backhand passes, but his ­German opponent was so unsettled by the midway point of the second set that he was engaged in an ongoing and ­fervent conversation with himself.

By this stage the German, who at No55 in the world is ranked one place above Hewitt, had lost the first set 7-5 after being broken in the 13th and final game. He had survived three break points four games earlier but Hewitt, the wily and experienced pro that he is, kept probing with a variety of shots – safe in the knowledge that Petzschner would blink first.

"He's got weaknesses in his game, as well. You know, on the big points I knew that they were going to be the key today, and I was able to take those."

Having watched the 25-year-old bounce his racket off the ground, toss it in the air and petulantly smack balls into the crowd, it was hard to disagree with the Australian's assessment. Petzschner had his right ankle bandaged during a medical break after the fifth game of the second set and despite the ongoing ­dialogue with himself he began to play his best tennis, saving a break point in the eighth game of the set and subsequently forcing a tie-break.

Two aces augured well for the ­German, who had lost both previous meetings with the two-time grand slam winner, but Hewitt held his own services and scored two mini-breaks effectively to win the second set. There is a frantic grace to Hewitt on grass and he never looked like losing the third set despite facing his only break point of the match. Three matches and nine sets inspire ­parallels with 2002 – not that the man himself would admit to getting swept away by poetic licence.

"I haven't really thought about it too much. Obviously, I have great memories of this place every time I walk in the joint," he said. "In 2002 I only lost two sets for the entire tournament, and they were both to Schalken in the quarter-finals. Apart from that, I didn't drop a set, so obviously I played pretty clean tennis that year."

Back then Hewitt was seeded to progress and he admits it is very different this year. Unseeded, he had to eliminate fifth seed Juan Martin Del Potro to reach yesterday's match: "I guess when you're at the top of your game and you're No1 in the world, you kind of take for granted round-of-16s of slams.

"When you're unseeded, it's not always that easy to get the easy draw to come through the round of 16 and make the second week of these kind of majors," he added. "That's what's pleasing this week, to come through and do it against worthy opponents. You know, and not drop a set so far is nice as well."

His next opponent, Stepanek, came through 7-5 7-5 3-6 4-6 6-4 against 16th seed David Ferrer. Hewitt will be wary of the 23rd seed, who he has not played in six years, though he does hold a 2-0 lead in their previous meetings: "He's sort of flashy from the back of the court, similar to today's opponent a little bit: an all-court player, moves extremely well. Yeah, he's very comfortable on this ­surface, as well."

In fact, the Czech complained of being far from comfortable due to a knee complaint, which might prevent him from moving very well. Hewitt was somewhat sceptical when he was informed of the 30-year-old's ­complaint. "I won't be focusing too much [on that]. I didn't see too much of his game today at all. So, yeah, obviously to last five sets against David ­Ferrer you must be feeling not too bad."

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