MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Lleyton Hewitt fanned hopes of a hometown win in the Australian Open when he upset Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 at the exhibition Kooyong Classic on Wednesday.
Hewitt, ranked 54, beat the 10th-ranked Youzhny in his first appearance at Kooyong to show promising form ahead of the season’s first Grand Slam which starts on Monday.
Frenchman Gael Monfils, who tuned up for the Open with a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 three-hour win over defending champion Fernando Verdasco of Spain, was impressed with Hewitt’s form and said the Australian can win a Grand Slam this year.
Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko beat Czech Tomas Berdych 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in the third match on opening day.
Hewitt won 2002 Wimbledon and the 2001 U.S. Open and reached the Australian final six years ago, and Monfils said he was still able to add to that record.
“I think mentally Lleyton is very strong and what I heard and what I read he’s fresh because he had a long period off and he had 10 weeks of good training,” Monfils said.
“And as we know, Lleyton is strong mentally and is a big champion and he showed last year that he could win against (Roger) Federer. And this year I think he decided to play only the majors so, yeah, I think he can win a major again.”
Hewitt said his Open campaign was well on track after his solid workout on Wednesday.
“It’s a quality field here and none of the matches are going to be easy,” Hewitt said.
“Mikhail had a great finish to last year, making the semis of the U.S. Open and winning in Kuala Lumpur. He’s a quality player and we’ve had some really tough battles in the past so it’s nice to win the first one.
“He’s dangerous at all four majors—he could make a run at any one of them.”
Hewitt said he was happy with his progress at last week’s Hopman Cup in Perth and at Kooyong.
“I’ve played four quality players and hit the ball pretty well and feel like I’ve got better,” he said.
“Obviously today was totally different conditions to Perth but that’s good for me going into Melbourne.”
Hewitt was sidelined for a lengthy period last year with a hip injury and said he was still unsure of his overall fitness.
“It’s hard to say, you don’t know what’s around the corner,” he said.
“I was feeling pretty good coming into the Hopman Cup last year and all of a sudden in practice I hurt my other hip. I can only do the preparation I’m able to do and I feel like I’ve prepared as well as possible.”