MELBOURNE—Yesterday a young Australian player gave us a glimpse of the country’s tennis future. Tonight a aging Grand Slam champ reminded us of its recent past.
The consensus here was that Lleyton Hewitt’s opponent, 21-year-old Milos Raonic, would have too much pop for the man known as Rusty's 30-year-old legs to handle. It started just that way, as the 6-foot-5 Raonic, one of the game’s biggest servers, rained bombs as expected—he finished the match with 23 aces, and at one point had hit the five of the six fastest serves in the tournament so far. Hewitt, on the other hand, double-faulted at break point at 3-3. Raonic, backpedaling nimbly and turning on inside-in forehand winners, ran the first set out 6-4.
Just as he had against Andy Roddick in the last round, Hewitt regrouped in the second set and began to take subtle control of the proceedings. He snuck into the net, he mixed deep and short balls, he moved the big man across the baseline. Without going for broke or changing his game radically, Hewitt began to assert himself. Most important was how he mixed up his serve—“pitched a great game,” in the words of American Jim Courier afterward. The wide slider in the deuce court was especially effective, despite being hit a good 50 m.p.h. slower than Raonic’s typical first serve. Hewitt would mix it up so well that he finished with nearly as high a winning percentage on first-serve points as his flame-throwing opponent (77 percent for Raonic; 74 for Hewitt).
When Hewitt needed a point, though, he scrapped the slider and brought, as they say, the heat. His serve helped get him through the most crucial 12 points of the night, those in the third-set tiebreaker. Hewitt hit two service winners and an ace to go up 6-3. Then, in a rare lapse, he squandered two set points on his serve by dumping easy ground strokes into the net. One more set point was left. Raonic served up the T, Hewitt dug out a forehand, Raonic came in and eventually ended up with a high forehand volley that, as Hewitt said later, “he would normally make 99 times out of hundred.” This time, Raonic, off balance, put it into the tape. He never recovered. The 21-year-old rising star hit 58 winners on the night, but more important were his 54 unforced errors and first-serve percentage of 53. Raonic gave away chances on returns of second serves, and wasn’t able to create openings or construct rallies that let him move forward. Too often he settled for an all-or-nothing stroke from the baseline; too often he ended up with nothing.
There was a buzz in Laver Arena and on the grounds outside. The famous fanatics played their part, call and response style; a group of yellow-hatted loons chanted from inside the arena, and their friends—I mean, their mates—answered from outside. Rusty hasn’t always been beloved here, but all was forgiven tonight. It was an evening to appreciate the proverbial wily veteran’s genius for simplicity—the stiff-armed backhand, the dead-on passing shots, the serve he varies widely from point to point, and the grinder’s grit that’s seen him through so many matches against bigger hitters over the years. It was all on display in the last three sets of his 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 win.
As they say, though, no rest for the weary, or the over-30. Up next: Novak Djokovic. Rusty's going to need to pitch a perfect game.
—Steve Tignor