It began with a double fault, but it finished with feverish scenes of celebration at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night as 30-year-old Australian Lleyton Hewitt stunned 23rd seed Milos Raonic to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open 2012.
The home fans’ appetite for success has been fuelled by the run of Bernard Tomic this week, but on Saturday night it was all about Lleyton Hewitt as he bathed in the admiration of the home fans and dumped out the highly-favoured Canadian with a patient and intelligent 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 win in just over three hours.
Hewitt is no stranger to epic matches at Melbourne Park, and this occasion was no different as he fought from a set down and out-manoeuvred the seeded player to claim a memorable win.
After the match, Hewitt said the win was a special one for him.
“A couple of months ago I would have done anything to be in this position. It was just another game, but it was a bloody big game,” he told the capacity Rod Laver Arena crowd.
He admitted coming into this year’s tournament his expectations were low.
“I was just hoping my body would hold out for the first match. I hadn’t looked past that.”
An outsider coming into the match, Hewitt began shakily with a double fault, and had to fight back from 15-40 to hold serve in the first game.
Raonic, by contrast, opened his first service game with a booming 226 kmh ace that set the precedent for how the first set would play out. During the 38-minute opening set the towering Canadian’s serve looked impenetrable. He hit powerfully from the baseline and when the Australian double-faulted to drop his serve in the seventh game of the set it looked as though Hewitt was in for a tough night.
But the fighting qualities of Hewitt kicked in immediately in the second set. He saved a crucial break point to hold for 2-2, and then began to apply pressure to Raonic’s serve.
The occasion and Hewitt’s persistence seemed to get the better of the 21-year-old, who looked a shadow of the player that had comfortably taken the first set, double-faulting and hitting a number of unforced errors. In the eighth game the pressure told and Hewitt broke serve for 5-3, holding serve to seal the set.
The third set was tight, with Hewitt breaking early, but Raonic bolting back immediately to make it 3-3. Raonic found his stride for periods, and served several more of his 23 aces, to take the set to a tiebreak.
Once again the Canadian faltered at the key moment, double-faulting to give Hewitt the mini-break, and although Raonic saved two set points, he could not save a third, and found himself down 2-1.
The Australian, now with the scent of a memorable victory within grasp, broke Raonic’s serve once more, and although he would have two match points saved, he closed out the match much to the delight of the Melbourne Park crowd.
Although Hewitt hit only 27 winners to Raonic’s 58, his 32 unforced errors compared to Raonic’s 54 was a telling statistic.
Raonic’s serving was impressive at times – averaging 208 kmh, and hitting 23 aces. But he landed only 53 per cent of his first serves, which gave Hewitt the opportunity to fight his way into the match.
Hewitt said it was tough to face the big Canadian’s serve.
“It’s like facing Brett Lee … You are just getting bombarded down there. You just have to forget about it and move on to the next point,” he said.
Hewitt now progresses to the second week for the seventh time at the Australian Open.
Like his compatriot Bernard Tomic, who faces Roger Federer on Sunday, it doesn’t get any easier for Hewitt, as he must now prepare for world No.1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic on Monday.
That doesn’t mean he’ll change his tactics, however.
“I’m going to have a crack out here, take it to him, and see what happens,” Hewitt said.
And while he'll be an even bigger outsider for the next match, Hewitt left his post-match press conference with a memorable line that in many ways sums up his career.
"I never write myself off."
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