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CINCINNATI, Ohio, Aug 5 (AFP) : In a battle of former world number ones, Australia's Lleyton Hewitt defeated Gustavo Kuerten 6-3, 6-4 Wednesday to reach the third round of the rain-hampered ATP Cincinnati tournament.
The 23-year-old Aussie and 10th seed won his third of four matches against the Brazilian. Hewitt broke serve early in the set and kept the heat on Kuerten for the rest of the match at the 2.4 million dollar hardcourt event.
Hewitt will face England's Tim Henman, who moved on with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Hicham Arazi in an evening match.
Andy Roddick also advanced beating Nicolas Kiefer for the third straight week with a 6-4, 6-4 second round victory.
Roddick had beaten the German in the Indianapolis final two weeks ago and in the Toronto semi-finals last week.
"Weve seen a lot of each other the past couple of weeks," Roddick said. "I havent played him once in my whole career and then three times in ten days or so."
Roddick certainly hit the shot of the day. At 3-3, 30-15 with Kiefer serving in the first set, Roddick ran back to the baseline and hit a forehand with the ball barely off the ground, for a winning passing shot.
A surprised Roddick didnt realize he had hit a winner until he heard the crowd roar.
"I was gonna go between the legs, but then I couldnt get there on time," Roddick said.
"And so I just kind of flailed at it and I figured if I was gonna flail at it, I might as well hit it hard."
Roddick took advantage of both break points Kiefer presented to him in the seventh game of both the first and second sets.
In contrast, Kiefers been unable to break Roddicks serve in all 30 of the Americans service games in their three matches the past three weeks.
On Wednesday, Kiefer had Roddick down 0-40 in the fourth game of the first set, he played all three break points poorly to let the American hold on to his serve in the game.
Roddick will next take on Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan, who quickly dispatched Dutchman Sjeng Schalken 6-3, 6-3.
In a match that was twice suspended by rain, 11th-seeded Andre Agassi finally secured a 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 win over Thomas Johansson of Sweden.
"Theres no real secret to waiting out the rain but to relax until you get out there," said Agassi, who now leads Johansson 6-0 in career meetings dating back to 1998.
"The good news is both guys have to deal with the delays, but it is kind of frustrating."
In an all-Spanish battle, Tommy Robredo upset former French Open champion and seventh-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-4.
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