Hewitt avenges Davis Cup loss

A month ago, the Frenchman beat Hewitt in the fifth and final match of the Davis finale after Australia had already clinched the trophy in Nice. Today, during a match twice interrupted by rainshowers, Hewitt got his own back.

Hewitt held a 4-1 lead over Grosjean before the first interruption, has a lot to live up to this week at an event where he beat Patrick Rafter in the quarter-finals a year ago. Against Grosjean, Hewitt had 20 unforced errors, 13 winners and five aces. He next plays veteran Spaniard Francisco Clavet, who knocked out top seed Gustavo Kuerten a day earlier.

On the women’s side, Russian eighth seed Anna Kournikova defeated Belgian Sabine Appelmans 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 in a crowd-pleasing result at the venue for the Autumn Olympics. Sydney is the number 13 Kournikova’s second event of the year after getting to the quarters on the Gold Coast.

Former Wimbledon winner Conchita Martinez of Spain stopped Anne Kremer of Luxembourg with a 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 comeback interrupted by the rain.

American Alexandra Stevenson booked the first women’s quarter-final place over fourth seed Barbara Schett of Austria 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. Jennifer Capriati followed up on last weekend’s win over Martina Hingis with a victory into the second round. The unseeded American scored a 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Sandrine Testud of France.

Seventh seed amanda coetzer, fresh from South Africa’s trophy victory at the Hopman Cup last weekend, got off to a good start as she beat American Lisa Raymond 7-6 (7-1), 6-0. Silvija Talaja of Croatia moved ahead over Nadejda Petrova of Russia 7-6 (7-0), 3-6, 6-4 on the weather-hit day.

Agassi ducks questions

MELBOURNE: Andre Agassi ducked the gossip about his possible secret marriage to Steffi Graf last week but declared himself ready for the Colonial Classic competition starting tomorrow.

The 1999 world number 1 heads an eight-man field paced by the top four players in the game — himself, reigning Australian Open champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Pete Sampras and Swede Thomas Enqvist.

Agassi, who begins round-robin play tomorrow against South African Wayne Ferreira, said he has been working hard over the short one-month holiday break common to most in the game.

Agassi has been the subject of rumours about a possible new year’s eve marriage to Graf in Hawaii. The 29-year-old has refused to comment, and launched a rocket today at a newsman who asked him about the reports.

Agassi sarcastically said that the ATP tour had invited 20 of the “most intelligent and professional” tennis journalists to the event. “I’m sorry you weren’t there,” he said to his questioner.

Graf, in town with Agassi in the run-up to the opening Grand Slam of the season, has asked the media for peace and also refuses to shed any light on the report, first aired at the weekend in a British tabloid. Ivanisevic beaten

AUCKLAND: Defending champion Sjeng Schalken beat Goran Ivanisevic in the first round of the Auckland Open, but it was American qualifier Michael Sell who stole the show.

Sixth seed Schalken beat Ivanisevic 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in a match which lasted 90 minutes. Sell, ranked 161 at the end of last year, came from 6-0 and 5-1 down to score a 0-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-1 victory over fourth-seeded Frenchman Nicolas Escude, who finished the year ranked 37.