Fresh from a run to the Wimbledon boys final, Cruz Hewitt has taken another significant step in his fledgling career by claiming a maiden win on the ATP Tour when on debut in Washington D.C. today.
The 17-year-old’s reward for defeating veteran Marcos Giron would be a clash with his mentor and occasional hitting partner Alex de Minaur should the Australian star defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas in a match rescheduled to Wednesday local time (Thursday morning AEST) due to rain.
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The Sydneysider hit with his champion father Lleyton Hewitt, Australia’s most recent No.1 man, prior to the clash against Giron, who reached the 3rd Round at the Australian Open last year and has been ranked as high as No.37.
In defeating Giron 6-3 6-4, the right-hander becomes the youngest winner in the ATP Tour 500 event held in Washington since former US Open finalist Kei Nishikori, who is playing the tournament this week, in 2007.
The teenager, who said winning on debut “sounded pretty good”, was delighted with how he handled the challenge from the aggressive American, who won the ATP Tour Hall of Fame Championships in Newport two years ago.
“I am really happy with how I competed today. I came out and started pretty well and I am thrilled to get through to the next round,” he said.
The win over the world No.80 provides another significant surge for his own status, with Hewitt guaranteed to jump from a position outside the top 600 at the start of the week to a spot in the mid-360s based on a live estimate.
He said his father, a former US Open and Wimbledon champion who won in Washington D.C in 2004, advised him prior to the encounter against Giron to embrace the occasion.
“(He told me) mainly to enjoy it, because it was my first tour level match … and to take every point one-by-one, to enjoy the atmosphere and to enjoy the crowd and that is what I did,” he said.
Hewitt later said he could remember watching his dad feature in the Washington D.C tournament and that it was “pretty surreal” to win here.
Given the deeds of his father, a former US Open and Wimbledon champion, Hewitt is dealing with a lot of expectation. But he believes he his handling the spotlight well, as demonstrated by his win in what is an extremely strong field.
“I try to deal with it as best as I can. There is obviously a little bit of pressure but I try to take the positives out of it as well and I am happy with how I am dealing with it so far,” he said.
“Obviously I saw my dad play here. I came to his last tournament I remember. There are so many memories of that. To make it to round two, it’s very special.”
Hewitt copied the infamous celebration from his father after the victory, holding up his bent right arm with his hand curled back toward him.
“He just always did it and when I was little I’ve just always seen it,” Hewitt said. “It’s cool to be able to do that now because obviously my dad has been a huge part of where I am today.”
The Aussie described de Minaur, who has moved to No.5 in the world, as a big brother to him but the defending champion has a tricky task against Tsitsipas, the former world No.3, given the Greek dominates their head to head.
“Obviously if I play Alex, that would be a dream to share the court with him,” Hewitt said.
“He’s like my older brother. I’ve known him basically my whole life. He’s stayed with us. We have Christmas together, also. He’s taught me so much, I think that would be a pretty cool memory for us.”