Chela Sends Hewitt Crashing

Third seed Lleyton Hewitt became the biggest casualty of the Australian Open when he was upset 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 6-2 by bitter Argentine rival Juan Ignacio Chela in the second round.

Unseeded Chela, who beat Andy Murray in the opening round, triumphed in an unexpectedly flat encounter against world No6Hewitt, who needed treatment including painkillers for a foot injury in the third set but was still able to fight back and force a tiebreak, which he won 10-8.

Chela dragged Hewitt into long rallies and benefited from points gifted by wild forehands from the Australian, who was last year’s losing finalist.

The match failed to produce the expected fireworks after last year’s spiteful meeting between the pair, when Chela was later fined for spitting in Hewitt’s direction.

Meanwhile, Roger Federer turned in a stunning performance to breeze into the third round. The top seed barely worked up a sweat in the hot conditions as he demolished Florian Mayer 6-1, 6-4, 6-0. Federer wasted no time as he launched into a first-set assault, breaking the German twice to take control.

The world No1 was made to work a little harder in the second set as Mayer began to find some form - Federer was even forced to save a break point in the fourth game. He bounced back to break Mayer’s serve in the next game and take the set.

The third set then turned into a one-sided affair as Federer sent down another barrage of winners. He broke Mayer’s serve in every game of the third set to close the match out in 72 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena.

Federer was delighted to have got out of the 35 degree heat quickly to preserve his energy for the rest of the tournament. "I’m very pleased with the way I’m playing," he said. "I had the feeling both players were trying to come to the net as much as possible. I didn’t really want to rally too much from the baseline. That’s not going to happen in the next match either, that was maybe good preparation.

Murray suffered another setback after crashing out of the men’s doubles in the first round. The 18-year-old Scot teamed up with fellow teenager Novak Djokovic, of Serbia & Montenegro, but the inexperienced pair were beaten 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 by Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic.

Other results

Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg) bt Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 6-2; Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt Kevin Kim (USA) 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2; Guillermo Coria (Arg) bt Federico Luzzi (Ita) 7-6 (12-10), 6-4, 6-3; Igor Andreev (Rus) bt Raemon Sluiter (Ned) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-2; Peter Luczak (Aus) bt Olivier Rochus (Bel) 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (1-7), 6-1; Max Mirnyi (Blr) bt Davide Sanguinetti (Ita) 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (10-8); Kristof Vilegen (Bel) bt Fernando Verdasco (Spa) 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5; Luis Horna (Per) bt Bjorn Phau (Ger) 6-3, 6-2, 6-1; Dominik Hrbaty (Svk) bt Dick Norman (Bel) 6-2, 7-5, 5-7, 4-6, 10-8; Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) bt Juan Monaco (Arg) 6-4, 6-3, 6-3; Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) bt Boris Pashanski (Ser) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-1; Nathan Healey (Aus) bt Amer Delic (USA) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-4; Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) bt Alex Bogomolov Jr. (USA) 6-0, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa) bt Janko Tipsarevic (Ser) 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2; Tommy Haas (Ger) bt Paul Goldstein (USA) 6-0, 6-1, 6-2.