Commack, NY (Sportsbooks) - Red-hot former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt was an easy 6-1, 6-4 victor over Frenchman Michael Llodra in Thursday's second- round action at the $380,000 TD Waterhouse Cup -- a final U.S. Open tune-up. The second-seeded Hewitt has won his last seven matches, including a hardcourt title run in Washington, D.C. last week. Hewitt beat little-known Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in this past Sunday's final at the Legg Mason Classic and is already 2-0 this week. Hewitt will meet fifth-seeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela in Friday's quarterfinals. Chela disposed of Swede Thomas Enqvist, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 on Thursday night. In other second-round action on Day 4, Russian Nikolay Davydenko upended eighth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 and ninth-seeded Peruvian Luis Horna humbled Finn Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-4 at the Hamlet Golf and Country Club. Friday's other quarters will pit fourth-seeded and two-time defending Commack champion Paradorn Srichaphan against seventh-seeded Swede Joachim Johansson, Horna versus Davydenko and 10th-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer against Russian Dmitry Tursunov. The Thai Srichaphan beat American James Blake in last year's final and stopped Chela in the 2002 title match. This week's titlist will collect $52,000. |
