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WORLD SPORT

Hewitt wears down battling Spadea

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It was Hewitt's sixth win over Spadea in six meetings.

WASHINGTON -- Third seed Lleyton Hewitt reached the third round of the Legg Mason Classic with a gritty 6-7 7-6 6-4 victory over Vincent Spadea in a two-hour 32-minute slugfest in Washington on Wednesday.

Seventh seed Dmitry Tursunov of Russia defeated Edgardo Massa 3-6 6-1 3-3 when the Argentinean retired with an injury to his right shoulder.

Number eight Andy Murray of Britain, playing his first match under the tutelage of new coach Brad Gilbert, beat Paraguay's Ramon Delgado 6-4 6-3.

Ranked 96th in the world, American Spadea had Hewitt on the ropes when he forged a 5-3 lead in the second-set tiebreaker, but the Australian won the next four points to force a decisive third set.

Spadea was left to rue a costly double fault that allowed Hewitt to get back on level terms at 5-5 in the breaker.

"That was probably the biggest point of the match for me," Spadea told reporters. "I kind of went for it (on my second serve), I didn't want to play it tentatively.

"I can't really be discouraged about that, but at the same time, I didn't execute it."

Hewitt broke the American's serve in the ninth game of the final set to take a 5-4 lead and held on to clinch his sixth career victory over Spadea in as many matches.

"He's a tough player to play sometimes because he's so flashy," the world number 12 Hewitt said.

Spadea commented: "I almost pulled through tonight," he said.

"If I had a little extra juice. I'm coming close to having a win against him. I just don't match up too well because my weapons aren't big enough to overpower him."

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Murray said new coach Gilbert rated his performance as a C.

Murray struck 13 aces and six double faults in the 6-4 6-3 second-round triumph over Paraguay's number one.

The 44-year-old Gilbert, who coached Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick to the world's top ranking, has been in the Murray camp for less than a week.

"He gave me a C for my performance," said the 19-year-old Murray. "He was pleased that I managed to get through. It's hard for him to do really good work the first couple of weeks."

Murray conceded he has "definitely played better matches" but said he had not practised on hard courts in several months and had a tough time negotiating the steamy Washington weather.

The Scotland-born Murray repeatedly looked in the stands at Gilbert, who was signed last week by Britain's Lawn Tennis Association to fortify the nation's sagging tennis fortunes.

"All players tend to look at their coaches, especially in important situations" said Murray. "It's not so much for tactics, it's more to look at a familiar face, to someone you trust and respect."

Murray led 5-2 in the second set but failed to close out the match on his serve, drawing criticism from Gilbert.

"He played a couple of loose games and there were a few double faults," said Gilbert, who said the 6-foot-1 (185 cm), 150-pound (68 kgs) Murray needs to get stronger and in better shape. "He needs to get better in a lot of areas.

A magician

"Everyone thinks I'm a magician, I just touch him and he can become great. I believe in hard work, dedication, desire and just being methodical."

The temperatures in Washington were in the 100-degree range (38 Celsius), causing problems for many of the players.

"Pretty much everyone is struggling with the weather," the British number one said.

"It plays a big factor in all of the matches. You have to maybe finish the points a bit quicker than normal.

"It is so hot out there that if you're defending all of the points it's tough to catch your breath because it's so humid."

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