Hewitt Pulls Off Stunning Win In Australian Hardcourt Finals

Lleyton Hewitt, an Australian high school student ranked 550th in the world, won the Australian Men’s Hardcourt Championship Sunday in Adelaide and became the lowest-ranked player ever to win an ATP Tour event.

Hewitt, 16 years, 11 months, beat fellow Aussie Jason Stoltenberg, ranked 79th, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). He is the youngest champion since Michael Chang, who was 16 years, 7 months, when he won the TransAmerica Open at San Francisco Oct. 2, 1988.

“I do not think they (the players) knew how to play me and had not seen a lot of my matches,” said Hewitt, who earned $45,000 for the win in only his second ATP Tour event.

In the doubles final, Australians Joshua Eagle and Andrew Florent beat No. 2 seeds Ellis Ferreira of South Africa and American Rick Leach 6-4, 6-7 (3-7) 6-3.

At the Qatar Open in Doha, Qatar, Petr Korda of the Czech Republic won the ninth title of his career, beating a hobbling Fabrice Santoro of France 6-0, 6-3.

In the first men’s match of the Sydney International, Sweden’s Thomas Enqvist scored a 6-7 (8-6), 6-4, 6-4 victory over Spain’s Carlos Moya, a finalist there and at the Australian Open last year.

In other first-round men’s matches, Scott Draper of Australia and Francisco Clavet of Spain advanced.