Tennis: Hewitt Happy to Win Dirty

Of the many deep divisions that exist between France and the English-speaking world, the surface on which the French hold their tennis Open is as deep as any of them. Out of 12 starters in the men's draw whose first language is English, only Lleyton Hewitt survived past the opening round, which made it even more impressive that he has now notched up a third win to make it into the last 16.

The name-calling is instructive. The French call the surface clay, the Americans dismiss it as dirt. The French call those who play on it clay-courters, the Americans decry them as dirt-ballers. All nine American males had their noses rubbed in the clay/dirt before they could make it to round two, as did our own Tim Henman, beaten by an 18-year-old Latvian, and Hewitt's fellow-Australian Chris Guccione, seen off by a Greek qualifier.

But Hewitt, ever the unconventionalist, lives on. After being outplayed in the first set by Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, he won through 1-6 6-3 7-5 6-2. The victory maintained his consistent record at Roland Garros, for a non-clay-courter, of only twice failing to make it to the last 16 in eight visits.

Hewitt now becomes part of what most regard as the main narrative of the men's singles when he plays Rafael Nadal, the winner here for the past two years who has never lost a singles at the French Open. The Spaniard kept up his rampage towards his widely predicted rendezvous with Roger Federer in next Sunday's final when he put out his countryman Albert Montanes 6-1 6-3 6-2 in a typical demolition job.