Norman ends Hewitt's Winning Streak

Lleyton Hewitt's unbeaten 13-match run ended Monday in the fourth round of the Australian Open, falling to Swedish 12th seed Magnus Norman, 6-1 6-3 7-6(6).

Hewitt had no answers in the first two sets against Norman's unerring baseline play, backed up by a serve that produced 16 crucial aces.

But nobody in the packed Rod Laver Arena thought that the 18-year-old South Australian would be dismissed meekly, and when he raced to a 5-2 lead in the third set, Hewitt looked poised to make a fabulous comeback.

Norman, pumping himself up to the delight of the few fervent Swedish fans in the stadium, suddenly picked up his game and forced the match into a tiebreak.

Hewitt survived two match points at 6-4 down in the tiebreak but at 6-all served the most costly double fault of the day.

Norman, the last Swedish player left in the draw, hit 45 winners for the match, including 16 off the forehand wing.

Hewitt was philosophical after the loss, his first of 2000.

"It was going to have to come to an end at some stage," said Hewitt. "I was hoping to continue for a little bit longer... Magnus played a great match today and there was not much I could do out there."

After the match, Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis were named by captain John Newcombe in the team to defend Australia's Davis Cup title against Switzerland in Zurich in early February.

Also announced in the squad were doubles specialist Sandon Stolle and Brisbane Davis Cup hero Wayne Arthurs.

Norman will now take on the last German left, fourth seed Nicolas Kiefer , who continued his methodical progress through the draw with a straight-forward 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory over South African Wayne Ferreira.

Source: Australian Open

Monday. January 24th 2000