Hewitt joins big guns in quarters: Sydney International

by AAP
14/01/2009

Four-time champion Lleyton Hewitt has produced his best display of the summer to scorch into the quarter-finals of the Sydney International with a straight-sets win over Janko Tipsarevic.

Hewitt recovered from an early setback before romping to a 7-5 6-4 victory over the shot-making Serb in oppressive heat at Sydney Olympic Park.

Big-name seeds Novak Djokovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and David Nalbandian also safely progressed to the last eight with routine wins on Wednesday.

None of them, though, could have been as satisfied as Hewitt, who followed up his scrappy first-round win on Tuesday over Julien Benneteau with a polished performance at Ken Rosewall Arena.

After dropping his opening service game with a double-fault, the Australian rebounded to win 13 of the last 19 games to bury Tipsarevic and book a showdown on Thursday with Nalbandian, his long-time Argentine sparring partner.

Playing in Sydney for the first time since demolishing Hewitt in a grasscourt Davis Cup encounter three-and-a-half years ago, the fourth-seeded Nalbandian breezed past Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-1 6-3.

The top-seeded Djokovic claimed a straightforward 6-1 6-2 win over Paul-Henri Mathieu, whose French countryman Tsonga brushed aside Italian Simone Bolelli 6-4 6-1.

Tsonga's victory may have looked comfortable but last year's Australian Open finalist was troubled by a back complaint, the third seed twice receiving treatment for the injury.

The world No.6 later played down injury concerns, sighting stiffness as the reason for his medical timeouts.

Tsonga will face the winner of the Chris Guccione-Jarkko Nieminen clash for a place in the semi-finals.

In the women's draw, second seed Dinara Safina advanced to the semi-finals with a 6-3 6-4 win over French teenager Alize Cornet.

But fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, suffering from an abdominal strain, handed Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama a walkover.

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