Hewitt hits the grass running

06-09-2009 | AFP

Four time champion cruises through while French 12th seed is out

Panama Star LONDON. – Four-time champion Lleyton Hewitt made a storming start on the first day of the ATP Queen's Club grasscourt event here on Monday with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Argentina's Eduardo Schwank.

Hewitt, a former world number one and Wimbledon champion in 2002, looked as comfortable on grass as ever as he took just 44 minutes to see off his opponent, the world number 109.

The 15th-seeded Australian, champion here in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2006, will play Portugal's Frederico Gil, a 6-1, 6-3 winner against Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver, in the second round.

Fellow seeds Feliciano Lopez and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, both Spaniards, also progressed to the next round with straight sets victories.

Lopez, the 10th seed, beat the USA's Robert Kendrick 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/3),

Jeremy Chardy The French 12th seed lost a fiercely contested first-set tie-break 12-10 to America's Sam Querrey, who went on to complete a 7-6 (12/10), 6-4 win,