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Early wake-up call Miffed Hewitt survives test from young Frenchman
PARIS (Reuters) -- Australian No. 6 seed Lleyton Hewitt was relieved to survive a tough match against Paul-Henri Mathieu and take his place in the second round of the French Open with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory. Hewitt came in to the tournament on the back of a hard week in Duesseldorf, where he helped Australia win the World Team Cup, and he was less than pleased to find his match scheduled to be the first on Court Suzanne Lenglen on Monday morning. "They definitely didn't do me any favors about when I had to play," said Hewitt after a hard-fought win over Mathieu, winner of the boys' singles at last year's French Open. "You know they definitely looked after their own players out there today with me having to go out there first after last week and four good singles matches and a doubles match. "I'm happy to get through it. It's nice to be in the second round. I think my opponent was a great player and I had to work extremely hard to beat him. "I only arrived here late, very late, on Saturday. I've got no problem playing on Monday but I would have thought third or fourth match would have been a bit more sensible, especially as I'm the No. 6 seed here." Hewitt conceded he had not been at the peak of his game but said he did not plan to spend hours on the practice courts between matches. "When I get a day off I want to put my feet up and relax," he said. "On my days off here I'll only go out and hit for half an hour, 45 minutes max. Apart from that, I'll warm up for my match for a good 15-20 minutes but that's it. "We're playing back-to-back tournaments every week. It's impossible to put in too many hours on the practice court."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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