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Hewitt loses for first time in 23 matches
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-13 09:12
SYDNEY, Australia - Lleyton Hewitt sat in the front seat of a courtesy car,
ready for the hour's ride to his beachside mansion.
Lleyton Hewitt of
Australia bounces his racket after missing a shot during his loss to
Andreas Seppi of Italy at the Sydney International tennis tournament
January 12, 2006. Seppi won 4-6 7-5 7-5.
[Reuters] | He's made this trip from the Sydney
International many times before. This time the top-seeded Aussie made it as a
loser.
Hewitt was beaten by Italy's Andreas Seppi 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the
quarterfinals. And gone was Hewitt's 22-match winning streak at a tournament he
captured in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005. He didn't play in 2002 and 2003 because
of injuries or commitments.
His coach, Roger Rasheed, drove Hewitt's Hummer back to the house. Hewitt's
wife, actress Bec Cartwright, was a passenger. Hewitt was left to ponder the
missed opportunities.
He nearly pulled out of his first-round match with a stomach virus at the
former Olympic site. Against Seppi, he blew two match points in the deciding set
after serving for the match in the second.
"It really should have been finished off in straight sets," he said. "It
shouldn't even have been put in that situation in the third set."
Hewitt, ranked No. 4, will fly to Melbourne on Friday to continue
preparations for next week's Australian Open. The 60th-ranked Seppi advanced to
Friday's semifinals against Igor Andreev, who beat Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
in an all-Russian match.
James Blake defeated Arnaud Clement of France 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in another
quarterfinal and will play second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia on Friday.
Davydenko advanced on a walkover when Thailand's Paradorn Schrichapan pulled
out with a thigh injury, the eighth player to withdraw from this tuneup.
Justine Henin-Hardenne reached the women's final with a 6-3, 6-1 win over
2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia. On Friday, Henin-Hardenne
will play Italy's Francesca Schiavone, who downed the Czech Republic's Nicole
Vaidisova 6-4, 6-3 in the other semifinal.
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