MELBOURNE, Australia -- Carlos Moya blocked, sliced and
lobbed his way out of trouble Saturday night, finally beating a
scrambling Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 to reach the
round of 16 at the Australian Open.
|  | | Carlos Moya celebrates Saturday's victory over Lleyton Hewitt. |
Moya, the 1997 Australian runner-up and 1998 French Open
champion, finished the 3-hour, 48-minute match with a delicate
forehand volley. The seventh-seeded Aussie sprinted for the ball
but couldn't return it.
With most in the crowd of 15,000 roaring for every point by
Hewitt, the 19-year-old spent 11 minutes trying to win his serve at
5-5 in the final set. He saved three break points and failed on
three game points before double-faulting on the fourth break point.
Moya then served an ace, watched a passing shot go just wide,
hit a service winner and then finished with the touch volley.
The match was played under a closed roof at Rod Laver Arena
because of occasional rain. Earlier, temperatures outside reached
125 degrees on the sun-baked courts.
The unseeded Spaniard is coming back after a lower-back stress
fracture in 1999.
"People thought I was done," Moya said. "Now everything is
going right and I'm healthy."
"When I was making many mistakes at the beginning, I never gave
up," he added. "I kept fighting, and at the end I got paid off.
It's unbelievable the feeling of being the winner of this match."
Moya beat Marcelo Rios and Marc Rosset in straight sets in
earlier rounds. Hewitt downed Jonas Bjorkman in five sets and Tommy
Haas in three sets.
"I gave everything I had. ... He's a class player," Hewitt
said. "As soon as he starts getting his confidence back, he's
going to be very hard to beat."
Moya now plays unseeded Rainer Schuettler, a 6-4, 6-2, 7-5
winner over Canada's Daniel Nestor.
Hewitt was the sixth men's seed to lose. Earlier, No. 10 Wayne
Ferreira, who said he was hampered by a finger injury from catching
a ball in the warmup, lost 6-0, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to 19-year-old Swede
Andreas Vinciguerra.
Greg Rusedski, who beat top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten, moved on
easily by ousting German qualifier Lars Burgsmuller 6-1, 6-2, 6-1.
Next up is No. 15 Arnaud Clement, who beat Switzerland's Roger
Federer 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4.
Rusedski said he was pleased at coming back strongly after his
five-set match with Kuerten.
"That's another positive for me, to come off the match feeling
physically good and being able to serve and volley, serve a high
percentage again and play the game I wanted to," Rusedski said.
Olympic gold medalist Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the 1999 champion and
2000 runner-up in Australia, and 2000 semifinalist Magnus Norman
both struggled, starting in the heat and ending in cooler
temperatures.
No. 5 Kafelnikov rallied to beat American Chris Woodruff, a
quarterfinalist last year, 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-2, 6-3.
"Winning the second set was a huge relief," said Kafelnikov,
who next plays Vinciguerra. "I knew I was back in the match and my
chances would come."
No. 4 Norman beat Spain's Alex Calatrava 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (2),
6-3, to advance to a meeting with No. 16 Sebastien Grosjean.
Grosjean beat Sweden's Thomas Johansson 6-4, 6-1, 6-4.
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Yevgeny Kafelnikov freezes Chris Woodruff with the power forehand.
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