- News>
- Tennis
US Open: Injuries prove fatal for Hewitt, el Aynaoui, Coria, Schalken
New York, Sept 07: Answering the challenge of the greatest endurance test in grand slam history was too much to handle for Lleyton Hewitt, Guillermo Coria, Sjeng Schalken and Younes el Aynaoui.
New York, Sept 07: Answering the challenge of the greatest endurance test in grand slam history was too much to handle for Lleyton Hewitt, Guillermo Coria, Sjeng Schalken and Younes el Aynaoui.
All four struggled with injuries and lost in their US Open quarter-final matches here Friday, having played the day before as part of an unprecedented grand slam grind caused by 3 1/2 days of rain postponing matches.
Spanish third seed Juan Carlos Ferrero ousted Australian sixth seed Hewitt 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7/5) 6-1. Two-time slam winner Hewitt lost eight of the last nine games after his left hip began aching and disrupting his serve.
"I'm actually not sure what it is," Hewitt said. "I just couldn't serve basically. It was hurting every time I went up to push off serving. It was tightening up on me every time I went out to serve.
"My serve was the biggest worry. Once you start getting that feeling, you don't go after your serve either. That's the problem. Your mind is telling you there's pain and you don't want to push up and get that pain."
Hewitt squandered two set points in the third set and the reigning French Open champion made him pay.
"It was a little disappointing in that regard," Hewitt said. "It was very tough to hold serve from then on. I knew I was going to be struggling. I was trying to battle."
Coming back without an off day did not seem to be a problem despite a physical four-set effort in dispatching Thai 11th seed Paradorn Srichaphan.
Bureau Report
All four struggled with injuries and lost in their US Open quarter-final matches here Friday, having played the day before as part of an unprecedented grand slam grind caused by 3 1/2 days of rain postponing matches.
Spanish third seed Juan Carlos Ferrero ousted Australian sixth seed Hewitt 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7/5) 6-1. Two-time slam winner Hewitt lost eight of the last nine games after his left hip began aching and disrupting his serve.
"I'm actually not sure what it is," Hewitt said. "I just couldn't serve basically. It was hurting every time I went up to push off serving. It was tightening up on me every time I went out to serve.
"My serve was the biggest worry. Once you start getting that feeling, you don't go after your serve either. That's the problem. Your mind is telling you there's pain and you don't want to push up and get that pain."
Hewitt squandered two set points in the third set and the reigning French Open champion made him pay.
"It was a little disappointing in that regard," Hewitt said. "It was very tough to hold serve from then on. I knew I was going to be struggling. I was trying to battle."
Coming back without an off day did not seem to be a problem despite a physical four-set effort in dispatching Thai 11th seed Paradorn Srichaphan.
Bureau Report