Hewitt survives barrage of aces

May 25, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

PARIS (AP) — Lleyton Hewitt lunged and whiffed at some serves, his racket hitting only air. He simply stood and watched other balls whirr past.

Over and over and over again Sunday, Hewitt’s opponent in the French Open’s first round, the 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic, smacked aces from on high, finishing with a tournament-record 55. Those easy points helped Karlovic take the first two sets — and made Hewitt think back to the day in 2003 when he was the defending champion at Wimbledon and lost his opening match to the tallest player in tour history.

“The angle he gets, you can’t touch a lot of his serves,” Hewitt said. “It’s physically impossible.”

This time, as the 26th-seeded Karlovic tired in heat that topped 80 degrees, Hewitt grew more and more comfortable, and the two-time major champion’s bothersome hip looked fine while he climbed all the way back for a 6-7 (1), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3 victory.

How could a player who compiles 55 aces possibly lose?

“Don’t know,” was Hewitt’s simple reply.

Karlovic was similarly befuddled, saying: “It is difficult to explain.”

Theirs amounted to the most riveting match of Day 1 at the only Grand Slam tournament that starts on a Sunday. Otherwise, there were straight-set wins for defending champion Ana Ivanovic, Andy Murray and Marat Safin — who is appearing in his final French Open, but please be sure not to ask him about that — and straight-set exits for 2004 champion Gaston Gaudio and two-time major winner Amelie Mauresmo.

No. 16 Mauresmo and No. 19 Kaia Kanepi were the seeded women who lost, while Karlovic was the only seeded man who departed. No. 9 Victoria Azarenka and No. 11 Nadia Petrova — who beat Lauren Embree of Marco Island, Fla. — won, as did No. 7 Gilles Simon, No. 8 Fernando Verdasco, No. 13 Marin Cilic and No. 14 David Ferrer.

Safin is seeded 20th, and his talent and temperament long have conspired to make him as capable of reaching the semifinals at Roland Garros, something he did in 2002, as he is of falling in the first round, something he did in 2006.

He reached the second round this year by defeating Alexandre Sidorenko of France 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. When the 29-year-old brother of the tournament’s top-seeded woman, Dinara Safina, walked off the court, he was asked by a French TV interviewer whether this is his last appearance at Roland Garros. Safin replied: “I’m tired of talking about this.”

Pressed, he said: “Well, yeah, I decided, I think, to stop. I had my 12 years of my career. It was a great experience, but it’s time to move on.”

Like Safin, Hewitt has been ranked No. 1 and has won a U.S. Open title. Hewitt, who is a year younger, has given no indication he plans to walk away from the sport anytime soon.