4/12/2009 6:57:00 PM
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HOUSTON (AP) -Lleyton Hewitt of Australia held on to win his first tournament in two years Sunday with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Wayne Odesnik of the United States in the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships. Hewitt won his 498th career match and moved closer to joining Roger Federer and Carlos Moya as the only active players with 500 or more victories. Hewitt also won his first clay court tournament since he took the Delray Beach tournament in 1999.
Hewitt ranks 35th on the career victories list. He failed to win a tournament last year for the first time in his career while recovering from hip surgery.
``This is what all the hard work is for, to play weeks like this and have this kind of feeling at the end,'' Hewitt said. ``It makes going through the surgery and all the hard work worth it so, it's good stuff.''
Hewitt sailed to a 3-0 lead in the second set without much opposition from Odesnik, making his first ATP final. Odesnik had at least one service break in each of his 10 service games, and made his only rally by breaking Hewitt in the fourth game of the second set, then withstanding five break points to hold his serve in the fifth game.
``Clay is a tough surface to close players out,'' Hewitt said. ``I was playing great tennis up to that point, but he's a tough player and he doesn't give you any cheap points out there. He makes you work for all of them. I felt I was able to put pressure on him up to that stage. Even though he got back in that second set every game he won, I had game points. It could easily have been 6-1 in the second set.''
Odesnik broke Hewitt two more times for a 5-3 lead in the second set. Then his serving problems returned and he was broken after three break points in the ninth game and again in the 11th game. Hewitt won on the first match point on Odesnik's forehand error.
``When I got down 3-0 in the second set, I kind of relaxed and I was able to play better and play more aggressively,'' Odesnik said. ``I had nothing to lose and I started to play much better and had chances in the second set. But things didn't go my way today.
``He's one of the greatest returners in the sport. If you look at his results when he's healthy he's a top-10 player. My game has come a long way but it has a long way to go.''
Hewitt didn't need the extended match that took 2 hours, 3 minutes. Rain had already caused a 1 hour, 25-minute delay at the start. Hewitt hoped to still catch a flight to Monte Carlo, where he is scheduled for a first-round match on Tuesday.
``I might miss the flight now,'' he said. ``It's going to be hard now but this is the why I can here, to win the tournament. Obviously playing Monte Carlo is a bonus but right now my focus has been on winning this tournament. Now I'll start worrying about next week.''
Hewitt won a trip to his first clay court final in a decade with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Evgeny Korolev of Russia in Saturday's semifinals. Odesnik reached the final with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Germany's Bjorn Phau.
Hewitt ended 2008 ranked No. 67 and currently is No. 88. He's still undergoing rehab for hip surgery in August.
Odesnik was trying to become the first American to win a clay court event since 2006, when Mardy Fish won this event.
Since the clay court tournament came to Houston in 2001, Americans have won five of the eight titles. Andy Roddick won three and Andre Agassi and Fish each have one trophy.
``It's a big day to win a clay court event,'' Hewitt said. ``I feel every year I'm getting better on clay. Now I'm looking really forward to the French Open. With a good draw I think I can do some damage there.''