The Hindu : Hewitt does a McEnroe

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Hewitt does a McEnroe

LONDON June 17. Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt won his third consecutive Queen's Club grass-court championship after overcoming Tim Henman on Sunday.

The world No. 1 came from a set down to clinch the title 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

The Australian becomes the first player to register a hat-trick of titles at Queen's since John McEnroe performed the feat in 1981.

It was also Hewitt's fifth victory in a row over the British No. 1, and a repeat of their 2001 final here.

``To win it three times is incredible. To walk inside the club and see all the pictures of the past champions and to have my name up there with all those great players is a great honour,'' Hewitt said.

``It's a long way from Adelaide but I almost feel at home here. It's always tough coming here straight off the clay but I find my footing here so quickly. To play Tim, one of the best grass-court players in the world, in the final, is great preparation for Wimbledon.''

Henman appeared unsure whether to attack or rally from the baseline on several points and tried both with varying degrees of success. He was often strangely tentative on his volleys, and made far too many unforced errors to offer Hewitt any real threat.

By contrast, errors from Hewitt were a rarity as he served well, hit some blistering returns and threaded several winning passes down the line.

The most important of those came at 3-3 in the deciding set, as a double-handed backhand effort left Henman helpless and earned Hewitt a decisive break for 4-3.

``You have to give credit to Lleyton. He's certainly tough to play against on any surface and he proved again why he's the best in the world,'' Henman said.

``I can't have too many complaints with the way I played. I tried to make a few tactical adjustments and I feel I've got the right tactics to beat him. I've just got to execute them a little bit better.''

Mahesh-Mirnyi pair loses

Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi went down 5-7, 3-6 to Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe in the final of the Stella Artois Championship at the Queen's Club on Sunday.

The Indo-Belarussian pair had done well to continue their good run on grass, after making the French Open semifinals.

It will be practice on grass this week for Mahesh before Wimbledon. — AP

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