Lleyton Hewitt spectacularly launched his bid for a fifth Sydney International title with the loss of just two games in his opening match of the tournament on Wednesday. The Australian two-time Grand Slam champion rattled past Italian Andreas Seppi 6-0, 6-2 in just under an hour to set up an enticing quarter-final with Marcos Baghdatis on Thursday.
The fourth seed, who claimed the title here in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005, raced out of the blocks, clinching the first set in just 21 minutes and going on with the job despite an early service break in the final set. Hewitt, who had a first-round bye, will now take on Baghdatis for the first time since their epic third round encounter at the 2008 Australian Open, which started just before midnight and ran for four hours 43 minutes.
Hewitt prevailed 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-7 (7/4), 6-3 but was a spent force for his next match against eventual champion Novak Djokovic. Hewitt, fighting his way back up the rankings to a current 22 after hip surgery in August 2008, has a healthy respect for the Cypriot crowd-pleaser.