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Lleyton Hewitt - Australia's future in Tennis
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May 25

TEN:    HEWITT TOO MATURE FOR PHILIPPOUSSIS

By Louise Robson

LONDON, June 11 AAP - He may be five years younger, but Lleyton Hewitt proved himself far more mature than his vaunted countryman Mark Philippoussis when he outplayed and out-thought the fragile Victorian at the Queen's Club tournament here today.

Hewitt, 18, extended his giant killer reputation as he exploited fourth seed Philippoussis' weakness between the ears with a three set victory at the Wimbledon warm-up, coming back from one set down to win 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-2.

The 14th seed said he had learned a lot in his role as practice partner for Philippoussis and Pat Rafter at the Davis Cup in Zimbabwe in April.

"I thought if I can get on top of him, we know he's not the strongest of mental tough players out there," Hewitt said.

"I think it helped a little practising with Mark in Zimbabwe as well for returning his serve and getting a little bit of practice against such a big hitter of the ball."

The Adelaide teenager, ranked 42nd in the world, said he also thought he won the mental fight on the court.

"I knew that I had to keep on top of him particularly once I got that first break in the third.

"He'd done a couple of big double faults to give me the breaks in the first two sets so once I did get that early break in the third I knew I had to play a solid game at 2-0 to try and get the next break.

"And that's when he half gave it away.

"My next service game he sort of tanked the first three points just by going for wild shots. That always helps."

Philippoussis was one of the few Australian scalps Hewitt had not yet claimed.

He defeated world No.2 Rafter twice this year and has previously beaten Jason Stoltenberg and Scott Draper but his biggest scalp was French Open champion Andre Agassi on the way to his first career title, the Australian hardcourt title in Adelaide in 1998.

Philippoussis, who served eight aces and nine double faults, said the reason for his loss was pretty simple.

"I just wasn't competing out there," he said.

"Lleyton's a competitor, he's 100 per cent on each point and I just wasn't competing today.

"I don't know what it was but I'd better get rid of it before Wimbledon thats for sure.

"Just look at the service games I lost -- at least two double faults in each service game, silly dropped volleys -- and that's just something you can't afford to do against any player."

Hewitt and Philippoussis had met only once before, when Philippoussis put him out of the Lipton tournament in America.

Hewitt's quarter-final opponent will be the man he knocked out of the Australian Open in the first round this year, 11th seed Cedric Pioline of France.

The Adelaide teenager was the only Australian left in the tournament after the exit of defending champion Scott Draper, 12th seed Jason Stoltenberg and qualifier Wayne Arthurs.

Draper, who knocked out four times winner Boris Becker in the second round, was one of four former champions to bow out today along with 1997 winner Philippoussis, Todd Martin and Wayne Ferreira.

Twelfth seed Stoltenberg lost to Slovakian Karol Kucera 6-3 6-3, while Draper lost to Sargis Sargsian of Armenia 6-3 6-2.

Arthurs went down 7-6 6-3 to No.2 seed Pete Sampras who regained the world's No.1 ranking with his win.

Rafter fell out of contention for the No.1 spot when he was knocked out of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany yesterday.

But Rafter is scheduled to defend his title at Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands next week and could still reach the top slot before Wimbledon begins.


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