Hewitt, Philippoussis Fire into Round Three

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Former Stella Artois champions Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis made it a successful day for Australian fans at The Queen’s Club on Thursday, with both winning through to the third round.

Hewitt, who won three consecutive titles between 2000-02, recovered from an early setback to overcome Spain’s Fernando Vicente 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to get his grass court campaign off to a winning start.

Philippoussis had to do things the harder way, winning two matches in one day because of the rain on Tuesday. The 1997 champion, who was given a wild card this year after slipping to No. 176 in the rankings, first defeated South African Wesley Moodie 6-3, 6-4 and then followed with an impressive win over two-time finalist Sebastien Grosjean, coming through 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3.

Hewitt, the No. 8 seed, who will now meet Max Mirnyi in the third round, was relieved to come through his first match unscathed. “Every year I think the first match is always one of the toughest on this surface, and changing,” said Hewitt. “I've normally been able to translate from clay to grass as well as anyone, but it's never easy.”

Philippoussis, who won consecutive matches for the first time since last October in Metz, said a different outlook to matches is what helped him get through to third round. “I was relaxed the whole day, I think,” said Philippoussis. “That's just one thing I'm just telling myself, ‘Have fun’. I want to go out there and do the right things and just play, not think about winning or losing, just go out there, enjoy myself. That's what I did today. You know, that's what I want to keep on doing.”

Philippoussis will now meet No. 6 Fernando Gonzalez for a place in the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, in the biggest upset of the day, fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia went down in three sets to Yeu-Tzuoo Wang of Taipei.

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