Hewitt takes Kafelnikov to school again

Hewitt takes Kafelnikov to school again
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

MIAMI, MARCH 29: Rising Australian star Lleyton Hewitt took third seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov to school on Tuesday, adding another straight-set win to his list of triumphs over the Russian.

The 6-4, 6-3 victory put Hewitt into the quarter-finals of $ 5.725 million Ericsson Open tennis tournament. It also gave Hewitt another chance to make Kafelnikov eat his words.

In last year's Davis Cup semifinal tie in Australia, Kafelnikov trash-talked through the entire encounter. He vowed to teach the teenager a lesson and was rewarded with a straight-set defeat.

At the post match news conference, Hewitt held up $ 200 for his ``lesson''.

In the quarter-finals, Hewitt will meet American Jan Michael Gambill, who defeated Australian Mark Philippoussis 6-2 6-7 (6-8), 6-3.

A third Aussie Davis Cup player, Patrick Rafter, back in competition for just three weeks after a long injury lay-off, wasn't quite up to World No 1 Andre Agassi. Agassi, the top seed, needed just one break in each set for a 6-4, 6-4 victory in one hour and 38 minutes.

Agassi advanced to a quarterfinal clash with another serve-and-volley specialist, 10th seed Tim Henman of Britain, who defeated eighth-seeded Chilean Marcelo Rios 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4).

South African Wayne Ferreira, a former top 10 player now ranked 44th, also advanced to the last eight where he'll face sixth-seeded Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten. Ferreira posted a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Slovakia's Dominik Herbaty, while Kuerten beat Italian veteran Gianluca Pozzi 6-4 7-6 (7-3).

Ecudor's Nicolas Lapentti will face second seed Pete Sampras, who had little trouble against big-serving Briton Greg Rusedski. Sampras posted a 6-3, 6-3 win.

Not even a treacherous wind could blow Lindsay Davenport off course. The Australian Open champion posted her 19th straight victory when she beat 17-year-old Russian Nadejda Petrova 6-2, 6-1 to reach the semifinals, continuing towards a showdown with Martina HIngis. France's Sandrine Testud denied local favourite Jennifer Capriati a trip to the semis with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.