Hewitt wins a quick one in Houston

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON --

Lleyton Hewitt of Australia took 57 minutes to beat Sergio Roitman of Argentina 6-1, 6-3 Wednesday in a second-round match of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships at River Oaks Country Club.

Hewitt was slowed last season by hip surgery, but showed no signs of the ailment against his struggling opponent.

Roitman held his serve only once in the match and made only one brief surge by breaking Hewitt twice in the second set.

It didn't matter much because Hewitt broke Roitman nine times in the match, including the final game when Hewitt hit a forehand winner at the first match point.

Earlier, the run on seeded players continued.

Wayne Odesnik of the U.S. beat third-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-4, 6-0 and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain defeated No. 4 seed Jeremy Chardy of France, 6-1, 6-0.

The upsets reduced the field to one seeded player, defending champion Marcel Granollers of Spain, the No. 6 seed. He has a tough match on Thursday against Tommy Haas of Germany.

Top-seeded James Blake and No. 2-seeded Mardy Fish were eliminated in first-round matches along with three other seeds, going into Wednesday's matches.

The last time the clay court tournament had only one seeded player remaining after two rounds was 1994 at Birmingham, Ala., when Todd Martin was the lone seeded player after two rounds.

"I probably could have closed it out more comfortably in the second set," Hewitt said. "He played a couple of good points to break me but it was blustery conditions out there so it was good to go ahead and finish up the second set."

Hewitt wasn't bothered by his hip.

"It has its good days and bad days," Hewitt said. "I still have to go to rehab. Clay doesn't cause so much pounding. You slide into the shots."

Wind raked across the Stadium Court, but Melzer was the only player bothered in his match against Odesnik. The Austrian began to fall behind near the end of the first set, when he won only two points in the final three games.

"It should be that windy all the time," Odesnik said. "I'm used to it, growing up in Florida and training a lot in Austin. I just focused on what I had to do today. We are both lefties but on clay, I think I have a little more spin on the ball.

"I'm comfortable on clay."

He's also likes the site. Odesnik was a semifinalist here last year.

Melzer lost his serve without winning a point in the ninth game and Odesnik served a love game in the 10th that included a service winner and an ace to end the first set.

"I think that's the worst I've played so far this year," Melzer said. "I had so many chances in the first set but it was too much of a mess. He deserved the easy win."

Melzer's frustration grew in the second set.

He destroyed his racket on the first point of the fourth game when his backhand service return sailed far out of bounds.

He received a racket abuse warning, and Odesnik served a second-serve ace and another ace to end the game. Melzer won only three points in the final three games of the second set.

Melzer had three double-faults and hit only 51 per cent of his first serves in a match that lasted 62 minutes.

"Today, a lot of people would beat me," Melzer said. "Today, it wasn't who was on the other side of the net. It was about me missing every third shot."

Chardy never got into his match with Garcia-Lopez. Chardy held serve to open the match and didn't win another game.

The Frenchman took Garcia-Lopez to one break point in the second game of the final set but Garcia-Lopez had little problem holding serve.

Chardy fell behind 0-40 in the final game and held off three match points. Chardy double-faulted to bring on the fourth match point and Garcia-Lopez's forehand volley ended it.