Lleyton Hewitt’s son, Cruz Hewitt, secured his maiden entry into an ATP event’s main draw after getting past two qualifying rounds at the Mubadala DC Open. He has been making waves on the junior circuit for the past few months and has now started to replicate that form on the ATP Tour as well. But it won’t be wrong to say that luck has played a major role in his qualification for the main draw.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Notably, both matches Hewitt played ended abruptly. Hewitt took on Dusan Lajovic in the first round of qualifying. The Australian had a strong start to the match and got an early break. He was leading the set 5-2 when Lajovic was forced to retire due to an injury. Hewitt faced a much tougher task in the second round as he took on the No. 1 qualifying seed, Zachary Svajda.
The latter had a great start to the match and took the first set 6-1. He then built a lead of 5-3 in the second set and appeared to be in complete control of the match. However, Hewitt refused to give up and clinched a crucial break. He forced the set into a tiebreaker, where Svajda capitulated under pressure. The 17-year-old clinched the breaker 7-3 to take the match to the deciding set. But Svajda started facing physical issues after losing the first two games and decided to retire, allowing Hewitt to complete his breakthrough.
Though it can be argued that Hewitt didn’t perform at his best in both matches, his resilience in the second qualifying round showed that he can go toe-to-toe with experienced ATP players.
The victories in the two qualifying matches have seen Hewitt’s ranking rise to No. 612. Things could get even better for him if he goes on to win the opening round of the DC Open, as he will then likely make his breakthrough into the top 500 for the first time.
Hewitt will be up against Marcos Giron in the first round of the tournament. Notably, the latter had also entered the DC Open as a qualifier. He racked up straight-set victories over Aryan Shah and Andre Ilagan to qualify for the main draw. Unlike Hewitt, Giron’s performance was pretty convincing in both qualifying rounds.
While Giron would be the favorite to win the clash against Hewitt, it can’t be denied that the teenager does have the potential to pull off an upset. Not to mention that he is arguably in the form of his life and had quite an incredible singles campaign at the Wimbledon juniors earlier this month.
Cruz Hewitt reached the boys’ singles final at Wimbledon
The Australian had made headlines with his incredible performance at SW19. He recorded five consecutive straight-set wins to reach his maiden Grand Slam final.
Hewitt took on 16-year-old Jordan Lee in the final. The Australian was considered the favorite to win the title due to the solid performances he had delivered throughout the tournament. He started the match on a high and took the opening set. Lee went on to make an unexpected comeback and recorded a dramatic 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory. It would have been poetic if Hewitt had gone on to win the title, as his father had clinched the coveted Wimbledon title 24 years before he made the juniors final.
Interestingly, Lee also participated in the qualifying rounds of the DC Open. But he suffered a 7-5, 6-1 defeat to Moez Echargui in the first round. This means that Hewitt is now the only Wimbledon junior finalist to still be alive in the competition. It remains to be seen if the Australian will be able to go on a run in the main draw.
