By Guy Hand
The Age
January 25, 2025

Lleyton Hewitt set up a rematch of his Davis Cup epic against Roger Federer, while Mark Philippoussis is one win away from a similar feat after both Australians recorded impressive wins in the third round of the Australian Open.

Hewitt's hard-fought 7-6 7-6 6-2 win over Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal tonight launched the 15th seed into a showdown with No.2 seed Federer which will reprise the Australian's stunning come-from-behind victory at Melbourne Park in September.

Philippoussis had a much easier time of it against Croatian Mario Ancic, winning 6-4 7-6 6-2 to put him one match away from a quarter-final against world No.3 Juan Carlos Ferrero.

The Australian beat Ferrero, who beat Sweden's Joachim Johansson 6-1 7-6 6-7 6-4 in their third round clash today, in another five-set epic in the Davis Cup final decider at Melbourne Park two months ago.

But first Philippoussis must beat either Hicham Arazi or Albert Costa in his fourth round match, while Ferrero plays Romanian Andrei Pavel.

Last night Hewitt was given a working over by the 17-year-old Spaniard Nadal - rated the next big thing in world's tennis - in a high-quality two-and-a-half-hour match.

Nadal, whom countryman Carlos Moya believes will eclipse Hewitt's record as the world's youngest No.1 player, lived up to the hype in the first two sets with a swashbuckling display to push both to tiebreakers.

But Hewitt's experience and big-match temperament pulled him through against Nadal's youthful exuberance, particularly in the tiebreakers.

The opening set took nearly an hour, the second just over that as Nadal produced some quality tennis which forced the 15th seed to dig deep into his repertoire to snuff out any thoughts of an upset.

Hewitt broke once in each set, but Nadal proved he wasn't overawed by breaking back immediately both times and taking 2-0 leads in the tie-breakers.

Only some ill-timed drop shots and Hewitt's forehand proved the youngster's undoing, allowing the Australian to get back on track and assert his authority in both set deciders.

In the third set, Hewitt broke Nadal early, finally breaking his spirit in the process.

Hewitt paid tribute to Nadal afterwards, saying the Spaniard would become one of the world's best.

But Hewitt was also impressed with his own game, particularly being able to raise his performance to another level when pressed.

"I felt like I hit the ball pretty well the whole night," Hewitt said.

"The times I got broken, he played a couple of incredible points to break me and I was really happy with how I came back in both the tie-breakers.

"I was down mini-breaks early but I kept fighting and finding a way to get through those tight sets."

His fourth round opponent Federer hammered tired Australian Todd Reid 6-3 6-0 6-1 today, leaving Hewitt and Philippoussis as the only remaining Aussies in the men's draw.

British hopes were left in tatters when 11th seed Tim Henman let a two sets to love lead slip to lose the match of the tournament so far to Argentine Guillermo Canas.

After nearly five hours of combat, Canas finally claimed victory 6-7 5-7 7-6 7-5 9-7 in a classic after Henman's serve blew up in the penultimate game to concede a service break with a double fault.

Eighth seed David Nalbandian continued his stealthy crawl through the early rounds - the Argentine impressive in eliminating veteran Wayne Ferreira 6-2 6-4 7-5.