Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt claimed his first ATP Tour title in over two years as he beat Wayne Odesknik of the United States in the final of the U.S. Clay Court Championship in Houston.
Australia’s Hewitt prevailed 6-2 7-5 to cap his comeback after a career-threatening hip injury which required surgery last year. “This is what all the hard work is for, to play weeks like this and have this kind of feeling at the end,” Hewitt told the official ATP Tour Web site www.atpworldtour.com. “It makes going through the surgery and all the hard work worth it. It’s good stuff.” Hewitt, chasing his first title since Las Vegas in 2007, raced through the first set and closed quickly on victory with a break of service in the second. But Odesnik rallied to win the next five games to lead 5-3 and looked set to level only for Hewitt to close it out with a run of four games of his own. “Even though he got back in that second set every game he won, I had game points. It could easily have been 6-1 in the second set,” Hewitt added. He now goes to the Monte Carlo Masters and a first round match against another former world number one, Russian Marat Safin. In WTA Tour action, second seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark beat Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1 6-2 to win clay court tournament at Ponte Vedra Beach. Fifth seed Wozniak had upset top seed Nadia Petrova in the semifinals, but could not reproduce that form against Wozniacki.
