Novak Djokovic Battles Illness To See Off Hewitt

Novak Djokovic battled against illness to reach the quarter finals with a 7-5 6-4 3-6 6-4 win over former champion Lleyton Hewitt.

Djokovic has suffered from inconsistent form so far this season while Hewitt has struggled with injury but looks to be getting back to his best.

The tenacious Aussie took the Halle title just a couple of weeks ago, beating Roger Federer, so this fourth round clash was one of the matches of the fourth round.

Both players started serving well and neither player could get a handle on the others serve and it looked for all the world that the opening set was heading for a tie break.

But Djokovic had other ideas as the first sign of nerve crept into Hewitt's game as he served to stay in the set. The world number three took full advantage of Hewitt's errors as he broke to take the opening set.

But Hewitt continued to battle in the second as he produced one of the shots of the tournament when he fired a forehand round the post to level at 2-2.

But Hewitt did seem somewhat subdued as there wasn't the roars of 'come on' that we are used to hearing to get himself going. The second set followed the pattern of the first with both men serving and holding well.

But Djokovic stuck again as Hewitt was serving to stay in the set in the sixth game as he broke when the Aussie sent a forehand long and he was sets to the good after just eighty minutes.

But Djokovic looked to struggling at the beginning of the third and he called for a medical time out when he was 2-1 ahead. The Serb was clearly struggling and his level of play dropped, which was exploited to the full by Hewitt as he was allowed back into the match.

A double break saw Hewitt pull a set back and Djokovic looked to really have a match on his hands. But the world number three drew on his experience and broke Hewitt early in the fourth.

He broke again in the ninth as he wrapped up victory on his own serve. After the match Djokovic revealed that he had been struggling with a stomach upset.

He will now face Yen-Hsun Lu, who put out Roddick, in the last eight.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw