ATP
January 24, 2025

Lleyton Hewitt conceded he needed to work harder than expected to hold out determined 17-year-old Spaniard Rafael Nadal to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open on Saturday night.

Hewitt toiled for two hours to win the first two sets before busting open the match in the third set to win 7-6(2), 7-6(5), 6-2 and set up a fourth-round meeting with Roger Federer. �I expected a tough match but I don't think I expected it to be quite that tough. He's a great young player,� Hewitt said. "He took his game up a couple of levels today... I played pretty well tonight... I went hammer and tongs from the baseline. Didn't move back too much and really attacked from the word go."

Hewitt advanced to the fourth round for the third time in five years but he is yet to reach the quarterfinals of his home Grand Slam. When he played Federer on Rebound Ace on Rod Laver Arena in the Davis Cup semifinal last September, Hewitt rallied from two sets and 3-5 down to win in five sets. He leads Federer 7-2 in career meetings.

Asked why he had such a good record against Federer, Hewitt said: "I think we played a lot before he was at his best. Since we've both been at our best we've probably only played a couple of times. Nearly all the matches have been pretty close... I've really got to play some of my best tennis to keep up with him."

Nadal said: "I played well the whole match. I had opportunities to perhaps win a set. Towards the end I started to feel a bit tired. But I was very happy with my performance."