Tennis world all saying the same thing as Cruz Hewitt delights Wimbledon

News.com.au

12 hours ago

'Same backwards cap, same Yonex racket, same Nike heritage polo, same attitude. A carbon copy.'
Tennis commentator Bastien Fachan echoed the thoughts of fans across the globe as Cruz Hewitt grabbed his first Wimbledon win overnight Sunday, 23 years after his dad Lleyton won the title.
Hewitt 2.0 was almost untouchable in his opening match in the boys singles, thumping Russia's Savva Rybkin 6-1 6-2 to reach the final 32.
With his dad watching and fist-pumping from the stands, Cruz looked eerily similar to his old man as he guided two-fisted backhands down the line and roared in celebration.
Cruz, who will play Finnish 11th seed Oskari Paldanius in the next round, also won his opening match at the Australian Open juniors earlier this year before losing a tight match against the top seed in the tournament.
Only 16, Cruz is hoping to emulate the famous feats of his father, which included victory over David Nalbandian in the 2002 Wimbledon men's singles final.
Big names through to quarters
Carlos Alcaraz remains on track to win this year's edition as he closes on a four set-win against Andrey Rublev.
The defending champion recovered from losing a first set tie-breaker to win the next two sets and is up a break in the fourth.
Earlier, Aryna Sabalenka overcame a battling Elise Mertens to also reach the quarter-finals.
World number one Sabalenka has yet to drop a set in four rounds at the All England Club as every other top six seed has fallen, but was given a tough workout by Belgian world number 23 Mertens.
The Belarusian came through 6-4 7-6 (7/4) against her former doubles partner under the closed roof on Centre Court to set up a clash against Germany's Laura Siegemund.
The three-time Grand Slam champion is making up for lost time after missing last year's Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury. She was excluded in 2022 as part of a blanket ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes.
'With your support guys I think everything is possible,' said Sabalenka, who has never been beyond the semi-finals at the All England Club.
'Simply pathetic': Controversy erupts
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also progressed at the expense of Britain's Sonay Kartal, but had to mentally reset after a bizarre electronic line-calling failure.
At 4-4 in the first set, Pavlyuchenkova held game point when a Kartal backhand landed clearly over the baseline but no call came and the umpire ordered the point be replayed.
Kartal went on to break for a 5-4 lead.
Pavlyuchenkova angrily made her case to the umpire, saying: 'They stole the game from me, they stole it'.
'Simply PATHETIC situation on Centre Court,' tweeted tennis journalist Jose Morgado. 'Pavlyuchenkova just lost a game that ... she won.'
But the Russian broke back and won the tie-break, which proved a launch pad for a 7-6 (7/3) 6-4 victory.
The technology glitch in the fourth-round match follows concerns raised by other players.
The All England Club released a brief statement on the incident. 'Due to operator error the system was deactivated on the point in question,' said an spokesman. 'The chair umpire followed the established process.'
Russia's Karen Khachanov was the first winner of the day, brushing aside Polish player Kamil Majchrzak 6-4 6-2 6-3 on Court Two.
He will face US fifth seed Taylor Fritz, who was only on court for 41 minutes before Australia's Jordan Thompson retired injured, trailing 6-1 3-0.
America's Fritz faced gruelling five-set battles in his opening two matches but it was a different story in his fourth-round encounter on Court One.
The Eastbourne champion broke Thompson twice to seal the first set in just 21 minutes and led 3-0 in the second set when the Australian decided he could not go on, due to an apparent thigh injury.