Hewitt falls to Norman conquest

From AAP

LLEYTON HEWITT, the last surviving Australian in the men's singles, pumped his fist and beat his chest with all his usual exuberance, but Magnus Norman was simply too good today. Hopes that the trophy would stay at home for the first time in a quarter of a century collapsed under the Swede's power and accuracy. The 12th seed won 6-3 6-1 7-6 (8-6) to earn a quarter-final meeting with fourth seed Nicolas Kiefer of Germany. Kiefer beat South Africa's Wayne Ferreira 6-3 6-4 6-2 while in today's other fourth-rounder, Younes El Aynaoui went through to the last eight, beating Arnaud Clement of France 3-6 6-3 6-4 3-6 10-8. But it was the Hewitt-Norman match that attracted most interest. Both players have been in sparkling form this year, Hewitt winning tournaments in Adelaide and Sydney to be leading the ATP's new ranking system and Norman claiming his eighth career title in Auckland to be second. On court today, though, the Swede took the leading role and was rarely challenged. Hewitt's only joy came in the third set, but it was short-lived. After breaking Norman's serve in the fourth game to lead 3-1 he had a set point at 5-2 on the Swede's serve and then served for the set at 5-3. Norman broke back and the set duly went to a tie-breaker in which Hewitt had his chances before losing it 8-6. The defeat brought to an end the 18-year-old's 13-match winning streak and also removed the microscope that has focused closely on him since he made his comments about the "stupidity" of the Australian tennis public in Adelaide earlier this month. "I've learned a lot on and off the court and I'll be a better player for it," Hewitt said. He also revealed some of his new-found maturity with the admission that there were "still a lot of steps I've got to take" before becoming a top-10 candidate. The impression Hewitt gave today, though, was one of a "good small player" always being susceptible to a "good big player". Norman, with inescapable Swedish logic, saw it more simply. "I was seeded. He wasn't," he said. "Everything I expected to do, I did - I played 100 per cent."