Date:08/02/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/02/08/stories/2003020805791800.htm

Sport - Tennis

Hewitt, Philippoussis give Australia 2-0 lead

Sydney Feb. 7 . World number one Lleyton Hewitt overcame early resistance to put hot favourite Australia in command in the Davis Cup World Group first round tennis tie against Great Britain here on Friday.

Hewitt was down 2-4 in the first set but fought back to down the promising 18-year-old Alex Bogdanovic 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 in just under two hours.

Earlier, Mark Philippoussis, back in the team after a three-year absence, put Australia one-up with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Alan Mackin in 1hr 43min.

The results: World Group (first-round): Australia 2, Britain 0 (Lleyton Hewitt bt Alex Bogdanovic 7-5, 6-1, 6-2; Mark Philippoussis bt Alan Mackin 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

At Seville: Spain 1, Belgium 0 (Juan Carlos Ferrero bt Christophe Rochus 6-3, 6-2, 7-5)

Asia-Oceania Zone (first round): At Tashkent (Group I): Uzbekistan 1, Indonesia 0 (Oleg Ogorodov bt Peter Handoyo 7-5, 5-7, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3).

At Bangkok: Thailand 2, South Korea 0 (Paradorn Srichaphan bt Chung Hee-seok 6-2, 6-2, 6-3); Danai Udomchoke bt Kim Dong-hyun 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.

At Auckland: New Zealand 2, Pakistan 0 (Mark Nielsen bt Aqeel Khan 6-0, 6-1, 6-2); Alistair Hunt bt Aisam Qureshi 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.

At Taipei (Group II): Taiwan 2, Kazakhstan 0 (Lu Yen-hsun bt Dias Doskarayev 7-5, 6-0, 7-5; Wang Yeu-tzuoo bt Alexey Kedriouk 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.

At Hong Kong: Hong Kong 2, Tajikistan 0 (Asif Ismail bt Dilshod Sharifi 6-0, 6-0, 6-3); Yu Hiu-tung bt Sergei Makashin 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.