Tipsarevic Matches Hewitt's Relentlessness in First-Round Win Lleyton Hewitt was feeling it Monday. After holding serve to go up by 6-5 in the first set against Janko Tipsarevic in his opening match at the Australian Open, Hewitt moved in for the kill, forcing two straight backhand errors to get to love-30. The packed crowd at Rod Laver Arena cheered their native son not as an underdog, but rather as the clear favorite to take down Tipsarevic, the No. 8 seed from Serbia. To the crowd, Tipsarevic would surely succumb to Hewitt, a force of nature as much as a tennis player, revered throughout Australia for his seemingly limitless desire to compete and win at the highest level. Hadn't Lleyton taken down Milos Raonic, Tomas Berdych, and Juan Martin Del Potro to win the warm-up event at Kooyong? Granted it was an exhibition event, but he had made three straight towering foes look average as he tuned up his game to prepare for this, his 17th Australian Open. With a home crowd urging him onward, how could Hewitt lose? But at love-30 Tipsarevic hit a wide slice to the forehand that Hewitt netted. Next he unleashed an ace up the T to tie the game score. Hewitt coughed up an unforced error, then Tipsarevic hit another powerful serve, this one flat and out wide, that Hewitt missed to make it 6-6. In the tie breaker, Tipsarevic surged to a 4-0 lead with more aggressive play. From love-30 down at 5-6, Tipsarevic won eight straight points to take control of the set. After losing the 69-minute first set, Hewitt responded by breaking Tipsarevic's serve to open the second set. Like Rafael Nadal, Hewitt knows that the victor of a long, tight set might be vulnerable to the impulse to relax psychologically. An early service break can make it seem as though the match is back on even footing. When Hewitt held serve and then secured a second service break, the crowd's relieved murmurs seemed to suggest that something essential in the tennis universe had been restored to order. Tipsarevic's ascent up the rankings, from a talented and tattooed journeyman to a dark horse to win a major, began after he married Biljana Sesevic in July 2010. He committed himself to tennis as well, and became what the former United States Davis Cup captain Tom Gullickson called a "24-7" tennis player. His work with the German coach Dirk Hordorff focused on improved fitness, tactical flexibility, and the art of getting one more ball back in play. Hordorrf, who previously coached Rainer Schuettler (an Australian Open finalist in 2003), was also once ranked in the top 20 in the world in backgammon. He has gotten Tipsarevic to back off of the baseline, and to play longer, more disciplined points. In an article in Deuce Magazine on the ATP Web site, Hordorff said of Tipsarevic, "Offensively, he is one of the better players, quick to capitalize on half chances, but defense-wise there is a lot of things that he can improve." Down by 3-0 in the second set with Hewitt serving, Tipsarevic again reversed the momentum of the match, raising his level of play by taking the ball earlier and attacking, especially with his down-the-line backhand. He gained back one service break, and the level of play from both players ratcheted upward. Hewitt gamely hung on, fighting to hold serve to go up by 4-2, then again to lead by 5-3. The fans were settling in for a long night, a four-setter at least. Tipsarevic held serve, then broke Hewitt to even the score. Neither player was backing down, but, remarkably, Tipsarevic kept coming up with highlight-reel shots time and again. After holding serve to go up by 6-5, he passed Hewitt on the changeover as if he were in a trance. When he came back on the court he looked utterly calm, focused, resolute. When Hewitt moved to game point at 40-30, a long, grueling rally ensued. Hewitt worked Tipsarevic over, like a boxer throwing body jabs at the ribs, but Tipsarevic defended beautifully. He stretched wide to his forehand, shifting to a continental grip to block back a heavy Hewitt forehand, then sprinted to his left to run down Hewitt's approach shot. On the run, he laced a backhand passing shot down the line to deny Hewitt's bid to get into a second-set tie breaker. On the next point, the two men again ran each other relentlessly. After pushing Tipsarevic wide of the sideline in the backhand corner, Hewitt flicked a forehand short cross-court to send him sprinting wide again. Tipsarevic got to the ball and ripped a forehand winner down the line, a shot from six feet wide of the singles sideline that traveled outside of the net post before landing in the corner. On the next point - set point for Tipsarevic to take a two-sets-to-none lead -- the bespectacled Serb pounced on a short second serve by Hewitt and hit his third straight down-the-line winner to seize the second set before a stunned crowd. Tipsarevic put Hewitt away in the third set to advance with a 7-6 (4), 7-5, 6-3 victory.