Hewitt, whose first ATP victory came as a 16-year-old wildcard at this tournament in 1998, broke Sela's faltering serve in the opening game of the second set and again strung together the first four games on his way to a consummate victory.
Hewitt will next play Argentina's Jose Acasuso, who ousted Colombian Alejandro Falla in straight sets.
GOLD COAST
AFP, GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA
Top seed Nicole Vaidisova survived a first-round scare from Australia's Casey Dellacqua, winning in three sets at the Australian Women's Hardcourt tennis tournament on the Gold Coast yesterday.
The 18-year-old Czech looked out of sorts and made loads of unforced errors against the 78th-ranked Australian wild card, but hung on to win the match, 5-7, 7-5, 6-0.
AUCKLAND
AFP, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
Greek player Eleni Daniilidou showed strong early season form as she easily disposed of Elana Baltacha in Auckland yesterday in the first round of the Auckland Classic women's tennis tournament.
Seventh-seed Daniilidou, a two-time champion in New Zealand, impressed in disposing of her British opponent 6-1, 6-2 as the first round finished with the loss of another seed, Michaella Krajicek.
The Dutch No. 4 seed was dumped out of the tournament and joins Emilie Loit of France, the eighth seed, who was bundled out on Monday.
In a day of mostly lopsided affairs, Krajicek fell to Italian Sara Errani in a three-set marathon 5-7, 7-6 (7/4), 2-6 in a match lasting three hours 23 minutes.
Errani fought back from 2-4 to take the first set before squandering two match points in the second.
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