Hewitt’s Kooyong Debut A Winner

Written by: Staff on 16th January 2011

Hewitt's Kooyong Debut A Winner

Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) |

The sun came out at last today for the final of the 2011 AAMI Classic at Kooyong.

Jurgen Melzer (AUT) was too strong for Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) in the play-off for third and fourth spots in the draw, winning 7/6 (3) 6/2. Melzer, who arrived in Melbourne early for intense practice sessions, was satisfied with his form heading into the Australian Open starting on Monday.

The near capacity crowd were entertained pre-final by Wendy Matthews before Lletyton Hewitt(AUS) and Gael Monfils (FRA) took to the court.

Hewitt proved too good for Monfils, winning 7/6 (4), 6/3, in what he described as a perfect preparation for the Australian Open. “It’s as good as I could have done. I think the last two weeks I’ve done everything possible for me and I feel like my game’s where I wanted it to be at ten weeks ago and yeah, physically I feel good”. Monfils suffered a slight injury in the second set but hopes to be fit for his first match next week against Thiemo de Bakker.

Lleyton was pleased with his AAMI Classic matches: “I’ve had a great week here and I’ve really enjoyed it and it’s been tough conditions not knowing when we’re going to get on and off sometimes. I felt pretty comfortable this week and only time will tell in the next couple of weeks if it’s a perfect preparation, but at the moment I’m extremely excited about playing here and obviously winning three tough matches”.

At the presentation, Lleyton was joined on court by two of his three children, Mia (5) and Cruz (2), while little Ava (3 months) slept on in the player lounge.

Following the main draw matches, 6 Legends of the game revisited old Kooyong memories. Pat Cash (AUS) played Swede Mikhail Perfors in a re-match from the 1986 Davis Cup final at Kooyong. Cash was again victorious winning 7-6.

Mats Wilander (SWE) and Henri Leconte (FRA) then took on Mansour Bahrami (IRA) and John Fitzgerald (AUS) in an entertaining doubles encounter. Wilander/Leconte eventually won 7/6.

Topics: Lleyton Hewitt