TENNIS/US Open: Clearly there is something about this side of the pond that Lleyton Hewitt likes. After reaching the final in Cincinnati, where he lost to Andre Agassi, and winning consecutive titles in Washington and Long Island, the Australian's game is purring like a well-warmed engine here at the US Open.
Yesterday he ran over Wayne Ferreira 6-1, 7-5, 6-4, barely registering a bump. Ferreira was playing his last grand slam match but it was hardly the farewell he would have hoped for.
Hewitt raced through the first set in 20 minutes and after taking such a pounding the 32-year-old Ferreira must have wished he had brought his imminent retirement forward a few weeks.
But Ferreira, who has played in 57 grand slams, just one short of the record set by Jimmy Connors, was not about to walk off into the sunset without a fight.
He traded blows with Hewitt throughout a high-quality second set but the pressure told as he was broken at 5-5.
Hewitt served out for a two-set lead and moved swiftly in for the kill early in the third. He broke Ferreira immediately and the Australian was never in danger of losing his grip.
"I ran down a lot of balls today and served well," said a relaxed Hewitt, who is seeded to meet top seed Roger Federer in the semi-finals, afterwards.
"I feel that I've been able to play well week in week out this summer, like when I was number one in the world a couple of years ago," he added. "Some of the matches I've played in the last four weeks are probably as good as I've ever played."
Hewitt's compatriot Mark Philippoussis is out of the tournament after retiring with hip and back pain when his opponent, Nikolay Davydenko, was leading 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, 4-1.
Daniela Hantuchova moved into the third round by knocking out the 17th seed, Alicia Molik. Hantuchova beat the Australian 6-3, 6-4, coming from a break down in the first set.
Serena Williams, dressed in a black, jewel-encrusted two-piece outfit, marched into the third round by beating her American compatriot Lindsay Lee-Waters 6-4, 6-3.
Serena's powers failed her briefly when she let slip a 4-2 lead in the first set as Lee-Waters, the world number 86, hit back to level at 4-4.
The third seed and two-time champion stepped up her game when she needed to, though, and won 6-4, 6-3 to reach round three.
The twice former champion will face Tatiana Golovin of France in the third round.
Amelie Mauresmo's hopes of a first grand slam title remained intact after she came from behind to beat Ukraine's Julia Vakulenko in the second round.
The French second seed looked tense early on, struggling to keep the ball in court, but she recovered her poise to post a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory against the world number 105.
Vakulenko's cause was not helped during the deciding set when she needed treatment for blisters on her feet. But by that time Mauresmo was firmly in charge and she sealed victory with an ace after one hour, 44 minutes.
Mauresmo, who has enjoyed one of her best years on the circuit with titles in Vancouver, Rome and Berlin, is looking to go further than her semi-final appearance at Flushing Meadows two years ago.
Maria Sharapova made nervous progress to the second round of the tournament after overcoming Laura Granville on Tuesday night. The 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 scoreline could easily have been reversed had the American not got tight when she served at 5-5 in the third set.
"I was in La-La land," said Sharapova afterwards. "I was making too many errors and I was totally out of it a few times in the match. It was going up and down but what mattered was the end. Thankfully I was on the upside."
Tim Henman appears to be spending most of his visit to New York travelling to Long Island to visit his chiropractor Debbie Kleinman.
His bad back, which was much in evidence during his five-set win over Ivo Karlovic on Tuesday, prevented him from practising again yesterday.
The British number one chose instead to get further treatment and rest in an attempt to lessen the pain he has been feeling, a dark sign ahead of today's second-round match against Jerome Golmard.
