Hewitt denied on home soil

Tennis: Lleyton Hewitt will have to wait at least 12 months before winning his home grand slam after he was beaten 6-2 6-2 5…

Tennis:Lleyton Hewitt will have to wait at least 12 months before winning his home grand slam after he was beaten 6-2 6-2 5-7 6-4 by mercurial Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in the Australian Open third round today.

The 10th seed put on a superb display of power-hitting from both wings and although the Australian threatened one of his famous comebacks by winning the third set, Gonzalez prevailed in two hours and 40 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

The Chilean took just 67 minutes to race into a two-set lead, committing just two unforced errors as Hewitt had no answer to his magical mix of powerful groundstrokes and delicate touches.

But the battling Australian held on in the third and grabbed a crucial break to take the set before Gonzalez reasserted himself to win on his fourth match point and book his place in the last 16 for the second time in his career.

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The result means that there will be no Australians in the fourth round here for the first time since 2002.

Gonzalez will face American fifth seed James Blake for a place in the quarter-finals.

Elsewhere Andy Murray handed Juan Ignacio Chela a taste of his own medicine when he thundered past the Argentine 6-3 6-2 6-4 to set up a mouth-watering fourth-round showdown with Rafael Nadal.

The British 15th seed had suffered a straight-sets defeat by Chela in the first round here 12 months and pumped his fist in delight as he buried that painful memory with an unreturnable serve.

Fired up from the start, Murray sprinted to a two-set lead before he started to battle his own demons in the third.

Despite the set featuring five breaks of serve, Murray managed to get his act together in the nick of time to clinch victory in one hour and 50 minutes.