ntnews.com.aul l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l SPORT
Sam can use pressure to lift
By TODD BALYM
FEW Aussies have felt more
comfortable on Rod Laver
Arena than Lleyton Hewitt,
but even the Australian Open
veteran is lost for answers
when it comes to Samantha
Stosur’s home yips.
Hewitt has always thrived
on the vocal crowd support
and the pressure of playing at
home. While the former
Wimbledon and US Open
champion has never won his
home Grand Slam, Hewitt has
never really struggled like
world No. 9 Stosur.
Stosur has lost her past four
matches in Australia, with
the expectation since winning
the US Open in 2011 weighing
heavily upon her shoulders.
Hewitt said his secret was
harnessing the adrenaline
and nerves, but had no
answer to help Stosur break
her home hoodoo.
‘‘Yeah, I don’t know — I
think a lot is within you,’’ he
said. ‘‘Bernie Tomic is very
similar to me in terms of he
laps it up as well.
‘‘Sure you get nervous but
there’s an adrenaline buzz
that brings out the best.
‘‘That is a tough thing for
Sam to pass now. She is sort
of digging a hole that is
harder to get out of.’’
Hewitt showed his love of
hometown theatrics with an
opening round win in Brisbane and he will need that
support again today when he
clashes with big-serving
Denis Istomin.
After years restricted by
injury, Hewitt is finally fit
and, at 31, is showing no signs
of easing up as he prepares for
a 17th Australian Open.
‘‘I’m where I want to be at
the moment — a couple of
weeks out from a Grand Slam
and hopefully I get a bit of
luck with the draw,’’ he said.
‘‘I just feel happy with my
movement, my mind is free to
be able to go out there and
chase every ball down and not
second guess myself on the
court. My foot feels exactly
the same in the warm up as it
did after two hours (of
playing), which is pleasing.
‘‘After doing an extremely
hard pre-season, hopefully I
get some rewards out on the
court for it.’’
Nowhere would Hewitt
rather taste Grand Slam
success than Melbourne.
Runner up in 2005 was the
Out to
make a
name for
himself
Schiavone
fights back
FORMER French Open tennis champion Francesca
Schiavone showed her fighting qualities yesterday as
Italy beat Germany 2-1 at the
Hopman Cup.
Needing to win her
singles match to keep Italy
alive in the tie, the world
No. 35 was a set and a
break down while battling
stomach pain against
German Tatjana Malek.
But she rallied to win in
three sets.
Malek arrived to replace
the injured Andrea Petkovic
in the tournament less than
12 hours before her match.
Just when an upset
loomed, the 32-year-old
Schiavone was able to claw
her way back into the match
as fatigue appeared to start
affecting Malek.
Although she was well
down on her best form,
Schiavone was able to prevail 3-6 6-3 6-3.
Schiavone and teammate
Andreas
Seppi
then
clinched the tie with a 6-4 7-5
win in the mixed doubles.
Tommy Haas had given
the Germans the lead with a
hard-fought win over Seppi,
7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (9-7).
By ANDREW HAMILTON
Baghdatis
downs Mayer
THE seeds continued to fall
at the Brisbane International tennis event yesterday, with German Florian
Mayer toppled by former
Australian Open runner-up
Marcos Baghdatis.
The 71-minute upset
meant world No. 28 Mayer
was the second seed in the
men’s draw, on top of five in
the high-quality women’s
field, to be bundled out of
the tournament.
The sixth seed, who
played a key role in Germany’s Davis Cup victory
over Australia in September, was far from his best as
Baghdatis broke him four
times on Pat Rafter Arena
for a 6-4 6-2 victory.
The popular Cypriot will
play third-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon, who
advanced to the quarterfinals with a tight 7-6 (7-5) 7-6
(7-5) second-round win over
Colombia’s Alejandro Falla.
Eighth-seeded
Slovak
Martin Klizak fell to Denis
Istomin on Tuesday but
Japanese fifth-seed Kei Nishikori moved into the
quarter-finals yesterday
with a 6-3 6-3 win over
Spaniard Tommy Robredo.
www.ntnews.com.au
only time Hewitt progressed
beyond the fourth round of
his home Slam.
‘‘Melbourne Park has always been such a special
place for me ... I get goose
bumps always just walking in
the joint,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s probably the most that
anyone has played (Australian Open) singles in a row, 17.
‘‘It’s something, when I
do eventually stop, it will
be something I’m pretty
proud of.’’
Aussie John Millman will face up to world No. 3 Andy Murray at the Brisbane International today
Picture: AFP PHOTO
WHEN John Millman meets
World No. 3 Andy Murray at
the net at the Pat Rafter
Arena today, the handshake
may be accompanied by a
quick introduction.
If the plucky Queenslander
manages to pull of the biggest
upset of the summer so far
everyone in tennis will suddenly know his name.
That is what Millman
wants, but not for the fame
and fortune. A call up for
Australia’s Davis Cup side is
the goal and the 23-year-old
from Brisbane believes he is
deserving of the opportunity.
As the only Australian
male still standing in the
opening tournament of the
summer, he has a point.
‘‘I’m now the fifth-ranked
Australian tennis player. I
don’t want to be given handouts, I want to earn my
stripes,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s
something I think some of the
players take for granted. It’s
an honour to represent your
country and one I hope to
take with both hands if I’m
given the opportunity.’’
Davis Cup mentor Tony
Roche’s presence in the
crowd for Tuesday’s 6-4, 6-1
victory over Japan’s Tatsuma Ito suggests Tennis Australia is thinking along the
same lines. He has been handed a wildcard into the Australian Open and, with
Bernard Tomic’s fall from
grace, may just be the solution for Pat Rafter’s team.
Beating Murray will probably remain in the realm of
fantasy for the time being.
But Millman certainly isn’t
thinking like that.
‘‘I’m going to try and blot
out the fact it’s Andy Murray,
focus on me, and see what I
can get out of it,’’ he said.
Gajdosova disappointed to go down to ‘lucky loser’
FORTUNE has not been kind
to Jarmila Gajdosova of late.
But that did not stop her
ruing her luck when she
became the last Australian
woman to bow out of the Brisbane International yesterday.
Despite dodging a bullet
when injured world No. 2
Maria Sharapova withdrew
from their second-round
clash, Gajdosova was still
shot down 1-6 6-1 6-4 by replacement player Lesia
Tsurenko, of the Ukraine.
Gajdosova, 25, was kicking
herself after Tsurenko booked a quarter-final showdown
with
Slovakia’s
Daniela Hantuchova today.
The Slovak-bred Australian said world No. 116
Tsurenko redefined the term
‘‘lucky loser’’.
‘‘First, I was looking forward to playing Maria, so
that was a disappointment to
start with that I didn’t get to
play her,’’ Gajdosova said.
‘‘Then, yeah, the rule is
funny. Lucky loser gets to go
straight to the second round,
so it’s kind of unfair, I reck-
on. She’s a really, really
lucky loser, I guess.’’
Earlier, fourth-seeded German Angelique Kerber narrowly avoided becoming the
latest big name to bow out by
overcoming Puerto Rican
qualifier Monica Puig 3-6 6-4
7-6 (9-7) in the second round.
World No. 5 Kerber came
back from 4-1 down in the
third set and trailed 5-2 in the
deciding tiebreaker before
finally overcoming the
plucky world No. 124.
And the United States’ next
big thing — world No. 38
Sloane Stephens — overcame
Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson, 6-3
6-4, to book a quarter-final
clash with third seed and idol
Serena Williams.
Thursday, January 3, 2013. NT NEWS.
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