ATP Tennis - Hewitt Obtains First Title at the ATP Tour after Two Years - By: A. White

The Australian of 28 years-old, Lleyton Hewitt, who is currently ranked as the world No.88, defeated the American Wayne Odesnik in the final of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships at Houston with an score of 6-2, 7-5 this past Sunday. This is the first title in two years for Hewitt after a declining in his game due to a hip injury. Hewitt had surgery in August 2008, which later took him out for several months. However, after all the rehabilitation process and hard work, Hewitt’s effort has paid out with this triumph at Houston, which gives him more confidence in his game. This is Hewitt’s 498th victory in his professional career, his 27th title and his second clay-court tournament win since the Delray Beach Tournament in 1999.

Hewitt reached his first clay court final since 1999 with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Evgeny Korolev of Russia at the semifinals. On the other hand, Odesnik attained the final by beating the German Bjorn Phau 6-4, 6-3.

On the day of the final, Hewitt and Odesnik had to wait almost 90 minutes to start the game, since it was raining and the organizers had to put fresh clay afterwards.

The Australian won the first set comfortably and later took a lead of 3-0 in the second set without much opposition from Odesnik. However Odesnik, rallied by breaking Hewitt in the fourth game of the second set, then holding out five break points to grasp his serve in the fifth game and then obtaining the lead 3-5. Although, Hewitt came back and finally stopped the good run of Odesnik by closing the match with great determination and winning the set 7-5 with a final unforced error play from the American.

After the game, the Australian was really pleased with his accomplishment and the way his game has increase after his surgery. He also expressed that is satisfaction was bigger since his victory was in clay, which for him is a tough surface to compete on.

"This is what all the hard work is for, to play weeks like this and have this kind of feeling at the end. It makes going through the surgery and all the hard work worth it. Also clay is a tough surface to close players out but it was a big day to win a clay court event. I feel every year I'm getting better on clay. Now I'm looking really forward to the French Open, with a good draw I think I can do some damage there," expressed Hewitt.

With this win, now Hewitt is two victories away from joining Roger Federer and Carlos Moya as the only active players that having 500 wins or more in the ATP Tour. Hewitt next challenge will be at the Monte Carlo Masters where he will have to face the former world No.1 Marat Safin for the first round. With all this we hope the best for Hewitt in this tournament and we hope that he will keep improving and performing his great tennis at Monaco and the following tournaments.

About the Author

Ally White is a top senior copy writer for the international tennis championships as well as the top ranking sportsbetting:http://www.instantactionsports.com/uk Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.

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