Hewitt Saves 2 M.P. To Upset Soderling; Verdasco Ousted

© Getty ImagesGuillermo Garcia-Lopez was making his debut in Cincinnati.

Former ATP World Tour No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt drew on all his trademark fighting qualities to save two match points and defeat Roland Garros finalist Robin Soderling 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 Tuesday in the first round of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament in Cincinnati.

The Australian saved one match point with an ace at 5-6 down in the second-set tie-break and was reprieved on a second as Soderling over-hit a mid-court forehand at 8-7. After levelling the match, Hewitt then broke in the first game of the final set and went on close out his third win in three meetings with the Swede after two hours and nine minutes. He goes on to face German Benjamin Becker.

"It was always gonna be a tough match against Soderling," said Hewitt. "He's been playing great the last three or four months. Such a big hitter out there. He wants to play on his terms and he wants to dictate play. Sort of had to weather the storm out there today and wait for my opportunities."

The 28-year-old Hewitt is hoping to bounce back from a first-round loss at the Rogers Cup in Montreal (l. to Ferrero) last week at an event where he has reached the final twice before, in 2002 (l. to Moya) and 2004 (l. to Agassi).

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The Sydney resident approaches the remainder of the 2009 season with a clean slate after being sidelined through the final stages of last year after undergoing hip surgery. Hewitt has hit back in 2009 and won his 27th tour-level title in Houston (d. Odesnik) en route to pulling his South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking back up to No. 42 from outside the Top 100.

"So far this year, I've got better and better as the year's gone on," said Hewitt. "I was happy winning in Houston on clay there and not dropping a set. But then Wimbledon was when I played some of my best tennis."

World No. 53 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez handed No. 11 seed Fernando Verdasco his fourth first-round loss in Cincinnati with a 7-6(4), 7-6(4) victory in an all-Spanish clash. The No. 10-ranked Verdasco, who also lost in the first round on his first three event appearances, recovered from a break down in the first set but went on to lose both tie-breaks to succumb in one hour and 45 minutes. The 25 year old, who reached the Australian Open semi-finals (l. to Nadal) at the start of the season, dropped to a 34-16 match record.

The 26-year-old Garcia-Lopez continued to make strides in his best season so far by winning his first match at Cincinnati and his seventh at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event. The right-hander, who has compiled a 22-18 mark in 2009, captured his first ATP World Tour title at Kitzbuhel (d. Benneteau) in May.

Garcia-Lopez goes on to face Mikhail Youzhny, who dismissed Victor Hanescu of Romania 7-5, 6-2. The Russian saved all four break points he faced and capitalised on three of eight opportunities in the 96-minute match. The former World No. 8 reached the Cincinnati quarter-finals in 2005 (l. to Roddick).

Italian Andreas Seppi set up a second-round meeting with reigning ATP World Tour Champion Rafael Nadal after edging past Czech qualifier Jan Hernych 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in a match featuring 10 breaks of serve. Nadal leads their head-to-head 3-1, though it was Seppi who won their one previous meeting on hard court at Rotterdam in 2008.

French No. 7 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will face qualifier Chris Guccione in the second round after the Australian struck 19 aces in a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 victory over German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

In other first-round matches, Czech Tomas Berdych won the opening set 6-4 when 10th-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez retired with a knee injury while his next opponent, German Philipp Petzschner, advanced with a 7-6(6), 6-3 win over Italian qualifier Simone Bolelli.