Cruz Hewitt impersonates dad Lleyton but it’s not enough to stop his Australian Open campaign ending in bitter disappointment
Cruz Hewitt brought back memories of his famous father Lleyton as he fought hard during his qualifying match at the Australian Open before falling to a straight-sets defeat on Tuesday.
The 17-year-old went down 6-3 6-3 to American Michael Zheng, who is ranked 174th in the world.
With Lleyton and wife Bec watching on at an outside court at Melbourne Park, Cruz had his serve broken in the middle of the opening set, which stayed on serve for the first six games.
However, he lost five straight games as Zheng went on to break his serve again in the second set.
Cruz’s father was famous for his never-say-die attitude and that was on display as the teenager broke back twice, shouting ‘come on!’ and pumping his fist just like Lleyton did in his playing days.
Six double faults hurt Cruz as the crowd chanted, ‘Let’s go, Hewitt, let’s go!’ at the packed court, but their support couldn’t get him over the line.
Cruz Hewitt had plenty of support from the crowd and his parents Lleyton and Bec – but it wasn’t enough to get him past the first round of qualifying at the Australian Open
The 17-year-old has his father’s fist pump and ‘come on!’ scream down pat
It’s the second year in a row Cruz has fallen at the first hurdle in his quest to make it into the main draw of his home Grand Slam
It’s the second year in a row the son of Aussie tennis royalty has failed to make it past the first round of qualifying.
He is now expected to play in the boys’ singles tournament, in which he was defeated in the first round last year.
Hewitt’s fellow Aussie Storm Hunter had a better time of it on Tuesday, breezing through her qualifying clash.
Hunter claimed a 7-5 6-3 win over Georgia’s Ekaterine Gorgodze in an hour and 23 minutes on Kia Arena.
Hunter, 31, missed last year’s Open as she recovered from a ruptured Achilles tendon.
Her lowly singles ranking of No.363 meant doubles star Hunter had to rely on a wildcard just to go through qualifying.
‘I was like, ‘wow, I’m missing out, and don’t know if I’m going to be back’,’ she said of her experience watching on at Melbourne Park last year.
‘So to just get the win today felt amazing.’
Having blitzed through qualifying in the past, the popular veteran is confident she can again reach the main draw.
‘I can beat anyone. And I have qualified here at the Aussie Open, qualified at Wimbledon, qualified at the French,’ she said.
‘So I know what it takes, but same time, I know how hard it is to do it.
‘To be honest it’s incredibly difficult to qualify and I’m just going to take it day by day.’
Hunter will play Serbia’s Lola Radivojevic in the second round of qualifying after the 21-year-old overcame a scare from 18-year-old Australian wildcard Alana Subasic, winning 3-6 6-1 6-4.
