Lleyton Hewitt staged a trademark barnstorming comeback from two sets down yesterday to beat 2004 champion Gaston Gaudio and reach the French Open third round.
Hewitt's marathon 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory was the fourth time in his career that he had performed such a stunning turnaround.
Hewitt was second best in the opening two sets.
The first lasted 62 minutes with the Australian failing to convert any of his four break points before Gaudio soon took a two sets lead.
But Hewitt is the king of lost causes.
He cut back on the unforced errors in the third set and then levelled the contest by snatching the fourth as his opponent's game imploded.
Hewitt broke in the first and fifth games of the decider and took the match with a love service game after three hours 28 minutes.
Hewitt had to come back from two sets down to beat Michael Russell in the first round of this year's Australian Open.
His first such dramatic recovery came against Guillermo Canas in the fourth round here in 2001, and the second was in 2003 when he beat Roger Federer in a Davis Cup semi-final.
Top seeds Roger Federer and Justine Henin both scored straight sets successes on Wednesday to reach the third round of the French Open on a day of few upsets.
The Swiss ace barely broke sweat as he ambled past French wildcard Thierry Ascione 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (10/8).
Women's defending champion Henin had to see off a bold challenge from the youngest player in the women's draw to move closer to her dream of winning a third straight French Open crown.
Having pocketed the opening set, the Belgian then made her class and experience tell by dominating the third set for a 7-5, 6-1 win setting up a third round tie against Mara Santangelo of Italy.
Taiwan's hopes of getting a player into the second round of the singles were dashed when Gisela Dulko of Argentina beat Hsieh Su-wei (
The 21 year-old world No. 124 has yet to make it past the first round of a Grand Slam tournament.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
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