Lleyton Hewitt safely through at Wimbledon

10 April 2012

Lleyton Hewitt enjoyed a straightforward passage into the third round of Wimbledon today as opponent Evgeny Korolev of Kazakhstan withdrew in the third set of their meeting on Court One.

The 2002 Wimbledon champion was leading 6-4 6-4 3-0 when Korolev called a halt to the second-round encounter with an upper arm injury.

Korolev showed flashes of ability during the match but 30 unforced errors - many of those appearing to come as a result of his fitness woes - was simply too much ground to concede to the consistent Hewitt, who was in control throughout.

Hewitt came into the tournament on a hot streak having inflicted a shock defeat Roger Federer in the final of the grass-court event at Halle earlier this month.

The loss was Federer's first at the event since 2002, and underlined the perennial threat posed by Hewitt.

The 15th seed started strongly today against world number 77 Korolev, who won his first ever match at Wimbledon on Monday when he dispatched Eduardo Schwank in round one.

A break in only Korolev's second service game was enough to settle the opener, the 29-year-old Hewitt producing a superb passing shot on the first of two break points to steal a march.

Hewitt, who defeated Maximo Gonzalez in first round, began to stutter in the next, ceding a break to go 0-2 behind as Korolev raised his game.

But Hewitt offered an immediate riposte, breaking to love to force his way back onto level terms before another battling break in the fifth game completed the turnaround.

With the score at 4-3 in Hewitt's favour, Korolev called the trainer for treatment on what appeared to be a problem with his upper arm. Hewitt won the next game to love with his opponent looking far from happy, but a powerful service game in the next by the big Kazakhstani briefly quelled any doubts over his fitness.

Hewitt held in the next to take the second set, but another period of treatment on Korolev's arm preceded a further break of serve by Hewitt at the start of the third as the result began to look a formality.

Korolev battled on for two more games but in the end cried enough, bowing out from the match after one hour and 24 minutes on court.

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