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Hewitt advances to Vegas semis, Robredo out
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-03-04 11:16
Top seed Lleyton Hewitt breezed through to the last four of the Tennis
Channel Open on Friday with a 6-2 6-0 win over Germany's Philip Kohlschrieber.
But third seed Tommy Robredo was ousted 7-6 6-4 by big-serving Croat Ivo
Karlovic on a cold, windy day.
The tournament lost another player to injury, Belgium's Xavier Malisse
retiring with an Achilles injury when he was down 6-2 2-0 to American Paul
Goldstein.
Malisse joined Andy Roddick, Germany's Tommy Haas and second seed Nicolas
Kiefer among those how have pulled out or retired.
Hewitt, who will play Goldstein in the semi-finals, played a smart,
conservative contest against Kohlschrieber who couldn't get to grips with the
conditions.
"It's a matter of focusing on what you have to do," Hewitt said. "There's
balls going everywhere and papers were flying round. The person who is able to
keep his focus will win the match."
Kohlschrieber upset Hewitt earlier this year at Adelaide, but had trouble
finding his rhythm on Friday.
"The biggest thing in the wind is to keep your game compact and not give
cheap errors," Hewitt said.
"You need a high first serve percentage, but you are going to get double
faults. It's a matter of not getting negative and playing the percentages."
Spain's Robredo was equally frustrated with the conditions, as well as with
Karlovic's service bombs.
"I was lucky, but in the wind you have to be lucky," Karlovic said. "With the
wind, it's hard to play to my potential."
Karlovic will face the winner of fifth seed James Blake and Dane Kenneth
Carlsen.
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