LEGG MASON TENNIS CLASSIC
Washington, D.C., U.S.A. August 22, 2004
Hewitt Claims Washington Title
Vern Verna
Second seed Lleyton Hewitt defeated first-time ATP finalist Gilles Muller of
Luxembourg 6-3, 6-4 to win the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington and
capture his third ATP title of the year.
The 23-year-old from Adelaide became the first Australian to win in Washington
since Tony Roche in 1972, while Ken Rosewall was the only other Aussie to win
the title back in 1971.
Hewitt, who came into the final having won titles in Sydney and Rotterdam
earlier this year, broke in the seventh game of the opening set and added
another break to take it 6-3. Hewitt broke again in the fourth game of the
second set to lead 3-1 before both players exchanged breaks in the final
four games. Hewitt eventually won the match as Muller's drop shot fell short
at 15-40 in the 10th game.
Hewitt, who remains in fifth position in the INDESIT ATP 2004 Race but closed
the gap on Carlos Moya, collected his 22nd career title - the second-most
among active players behind Andre Agassi's 59.
En route to the final, Hewitt defeated Kenneth Carlsen, Alejandro Falla,
No. 7 seed Cyril Saulnier and fourth seed Robby Ginepri.
Muller, who upset top seed and five-time Legg Mason champion Agassi 6-4, 7-5
in the semifinals on Saturday, became the first man from Luxembourg to reach
an ATP final. He will climb from No. 124 into the Top 100 for the first time
in the INDESIT ATP Entry Rankings.
Muller won the US Open juniors and finished as the No. 1 junior in the world
in 2001 - the same year that Hewitt won the US Open and finished as the ATP
year-end World No. 1.
Muller, who was playing in only his sixth career ATP level tournament, came
into Washington with only one match win at this level, that coming against
Nicolas Lapentti in Auckland in January. Muller had improved his INDESIT ATP
Entry Ranking from No. 189 at the end of last year to No. 124 coming into the
week by winning two Challenger titles (Napoli, Italy and Cordoba, Spain).
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID:
Hewitt: "It was nice to get another win, but my last final was only two weeks
ago [in Cincinnati]. I'm happy with how my game is progressing over
these last few weeks on hard courts. It's going well, I'm looking
forward to the next week [in Long Island] and then the Open.
"It was a hard match in the sense that I hadn't seen him play before.
He's talented and his main weapon is his serve. He has the ground
strokes and can put pressure on you. I was on his serve from the start,
I had break points in the first game. The pressure kept building up
and eventually I had to get the break."
Muller: "He was just too good today. I was excited after beating Agassi [in
the semifinals], but I knew I had another match to play. I had a
chance, if I had been playing like I did yesterday, it would have
been closer. But I can't lose serve four times in a match.
"I was too tight today. He was running everywhere. Sometimes, it was
hopeless, I would have three or four shots in a row and every time
the ball came back. You start to doubt a bit. I'm very happy, I played
the best tournament of my career and beat Andre Agassi. I have some
regrets from today, I could have played better, but I can't have
everything. I did get to my first ATP final and beat Andre Agassi."
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※ 編輯: LleyHewitt 來自: 220.142.48.231 (08/23 14:05)