Nothing left to worry Lleyton

By PAT CASH

THE players left in the bottom half of the Open draw are about as strong as an average field for an event that would struggle to attract local television coverage. Lleyton Hewitt must be rubbing his hands in anticipation. I would have to say after his demolition of Alex Corretja yesterday – and we're talking about a player who was No. 2 in the world exactly a year ago – that there's nothing in the draw to scare him. In fact, if he doesn't get to the final next week, I know he's going to be very disappointed. I've never doubted there's such a thing as the luck of the draw and this is Lleyton's chance to deliver an incredible championship. He was quite awesome yesterday. You feel for Corretja. It must be hell to be out there, just hoping to win a game and wondering if you're really in a nightmare and thinking you'll wake up any minute and it won't be true. I can't imagine what it must have been like for him, just trying to get a fingerhold into the match. It has to be torture. Lleyton marches on. Whoever the draw says you have to play, you have to beat, of course; he might have trouble against a guy with a big, powerful game, but I don't see anyone like that, even Kafelnikov, in the bottom half. Hewitt just has to continue his good form and I believe he'll get through to the finals without too much trouble. By contrast, Mark Philippoussis is going to have to perform like Superman with Sampras and Agassi ahead of him – and that's assuming he gets past Andrew Ilie today. Ilie is a very strong player, excellent from the back of the court, very flashy, in a similar fashion to Mark. When he's hot, he's red hot. It makes for exciting tennis, full of spectacular shot making. Mark pretty much knows what he has to do against Andrew; he struggled to know what to do at times in his first two matches. All of these guys are good once they get their eye in, and the fact that both of Mark's opponents came through qualifying meant they were tough. They were set, wound up and they went for it. My scouting on them didn't reveal an awful lot, Mark just had to go out there and experience it for himself. The kid last night (Dutchman Raemon Sluiter) played out of his skin for two sets but Mark possesses a greater variety of shots than last year and that got him through. The crowd will be right into it today. Ilie will mess around with them, try to get them sparking and that's not Mark's style; he focuses on what he has to do and doesn't let himself get carried away. You only have to remember how well he coped in the Davis Cup final to know he isn't going to be fazed if the crowd starts pulling for the underdog. This is a match between two local boys, two fantastic shot makers, one from a Greek family, the other from a Romanian family; a typical Melbourne match up, you might say. This is what the future of Australian tennis is going to be about; the second-generation Aussies out there flying the flag, doing things a little differently, getting rid of the old, bringing in the new.