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Tennis > Hewitt, Groth into Wimbledon fourth round
By Darren Walton
June 26, 2010

Lleyton Hewitt delivered another grasscourt clinic to charge into the fourth round at Wimbledon, where he'll be joined for the first time by Australia's newest tennis ace Jarmila Groth.

Hewitt outclassed French dangerman Gael Monfils 6-3 7-6 (11-9) 6-4 to set up a last-16 showdown on Monday with world No.3 Novak Djokovic, the 2008 Australian Open champion.

Not to be outdone, the Slovakian-born Groth - who was granted Australian citizenship late last year - downed German Angelique Kerber 6-4 7-5 later on Friday to book a likely centre-court date with five-time champion Venus Williams.

Not even 21 aces to Hewitt's two could save Monfils, who, in the end, was driven to the point of no return by the sheer efficiency of the 2002 champion's polished grasscourt game.

Picking up from where he left off against Evgeny Korolev in the second round, Hewitt played a near-flawless opening set.

Dropping only three points on his own delivery all set, Hewitt rattled off three love service games and let out an almighty "come on Rocky" when he brought up three break points against Monfils in the eighth game of the match.

More of his signature war cries followed when he achieved the break as the Frenchman dragged a backhand wide to fall behind 5-3.

Showcasing all his skills, Hewitt secured the set after 28 minutes with a lovely lunging forehand volley.

Making no inroads on Hewitt's serve, Monfils had to rely on a barrage of aces to stay in the second set, which almost inevitably went to a tiebreaker.

A rare double-fault from Hewitt and two forehand errors gifted Monfils a mini break at 3-1 in the tiebreaker, but he upped the ante to win five off the next six points to gain two set points at 6-4.

With two more tentative forehands dumped into the next, Hewitt looked to have wasted his big chance to take a stranglehold on the match when Monfils blasted a series of winners to establish three set points of his own - including one on his own serve at 8-7.

But Monfils's daring second-serve advance to the net backfired as Hewitt lured the Frenchman into error to escape danger.

Hewitt eventually clinched the set with a deft backhand drop-volley winner and then looked to have seized total control when he broke Monfils for a second time in the match to grab a 4-1 advantage in the third set.

But after conceding just 18 points in his first 15 service games, without even being pushed to deuce once, Hewitt suddenly began to wobble.

He dropped serve for the only time in the match to allow Monfils to draw level at 4-4 and then faced further break points in the ninth game.

But Australia's 15th seed steadied to hold and then broke the dispirited Frenchman to love to close out the centre-court contest after two hours and nine minutes.
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