Hewitt knocked out by Rusedski at Indianapolis
Barry Wood
Lleyton Hewitt's preparations for the defence of his U.S. Open title were dealt a blow on Thursday when he was knocked out of the Indianapolis Open by Britain's Greg Rusedski.
Hewitt, who will not play again before the U.S. Open begins on August 26, was stunned by the big-serving 14th seed who ran out a 7-6 6-4 winner.
"He served deep, but then again it was some of the worst returning (I've made)," said Hewitt, who has one of the best serve returns in the game. "I just could not find the middle of the racket. He served too well, though.
"I can not remember him having a double-fault. He was serving big first and second serves.
"Obviously there are areas of my game I feel I can just touch up on and sharpen. But I don't feel too bad going into the Open."
Third seed Tommy Haas was also stretched to three sets by Michel Kratochvil before advancing 4-6 7-5 6-1 while fifth seed Tim Henman withdrew with an inflamed right shoulder.
But it was the Hewitt-Rusedski match which proved to be the match of the day.
The first set was so closely contested that neither player earned a break point, although Hewitt was twice taken to deuce before Rusedski won the tiebreak.
In the second set, Hewitt led 40-0 on Rusedski's serve in the second game but failed to take his chance, and he paid the price at 4-4 when Rusedski broke by forcing a forehand error.
Hewitt had a chance to break straight back and led 30-0 as Rusedski served for the match, but the ball just clipped the net to deny him a potential match-saving three break points.
Rusedski had to fight off one break point as Hewitt made a desperate last stand, before he closed out the match with a 218kph ace.
Rusedski said he was feeling confident about the way his preparations are going for the US Open.
"I felt good for tonight's match and I'm quite confident when I play Lleyton," said Rusedski. "I didn't make any errors and the serving... and my movement around the court... was excellent today."
"Coming back from 0-40 was definitely important for the second set and I was able to stamp back my authority. It was a key game.
"This win was worth a lot. He's one of the favourites if not the favourite for the championship, and he never beats himself so when you beat him you know he is playing good tennis and that gives you a lot of confidence."
HASS STRUGGLES
Haas came close to defeat against Kratochvil before taking charge in the final set.
He double-faulted three times on the way to dropping his serve at 3-3 in the first set, and the match remained in the balance until he broke serve at 6-5 to take the second set.
In the final set, Haas fired three aces in the opening game, and Kratochvil dropped his first two service games with double-faults to leave Haas firmly in control.
In other matches, 11th seed Andrei Pavel and 16th seed Fabrice Santoro lost to unseeded players on Thursday.
Pavel lost to Spain's Felix Mantilla 2-6 6-4 6-1, while France's Arnaud DiPasquale beat Santoro 7-6 6-2.
Sixth seed Sebastien Grosjean overcame Nicolas Kiefer 7-6 6-4, ninth seed Rainer Schuettler defeated eighth seed Xavier Malisse 6-3 6-2 while 15th seed Arnaud Clement ended the run of Mario Ancic 6-3 6-4.
