Moya Continues Winning Streak at Shanghai Tennis Masters Cup

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 14, 2002

Moya Continues Winning Streak at Shanghai Tennis Masters Cup

Carlos Moya of Spain crushed Australian Lleyton Hewitt 6-4, 7-5 in by far the most spectacular clash at the season-ending tennis championship.

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Carlos Moya of Spain crushed Australian Lleyton Hewitt 6-4, 7-5 in by far the most spectacular clash at the season-ending tennis championship.

The last match on the second day of Shanghai Masters Cup saw the virtuoso performances of both players who fought a baseline battle, which sent Moya first into the semi-finals.

"It was really difficult. I am happy to win," said Moya, who occupied world top position for a stretch in 1999.

The match came to an exciting climax at the very end as Moya smashed Hewitt's backhand high ball, which, it was almost sure, would fall outside, wide out, squandering his third match point.

Having his back on the wall, 21-year-old Hewitt was desperate to prolong the tiebreaker but his effort turned out to be a failure as he hit a backhand too low into the net after three times of deuce, handing his opponent the victory.

Thus Moya reaped his fifth win over the Australian world number one, extending their head-to-head record to 5-3.

Though Moya made more mistakes, 34 unforced errors against Hewitt's 16, he was more efficient in first serve and break point conversions.

Moya succeeded in 60% of his first serves, including seven aces, o Hewitt's 42%. The Spaniard converted four break points out of six but Hewitt only made two out of nine.

"It is not too bad losing to Moya," said defending champion Hewitt, who became the youngest world number one in 2001 at 20 and claimed the Masters Cup title in Sydney. "He plays well not only on clay but also on hard court."

"He is playing even better than before when he won the French Open and the world number one spot a few years ago," Hewitt said of his conqueror.

Beating Hewitt in the Tennis Masters Series at Cincinnati on hard court, fifth seed Moya's hope had been high, so had his form.

The 1998 Roland Garros winner, bagging home four titles this year, was confident making his third appearance in the year-ender after three years of absence. He also improved his indoor results notably this season as he enjoyed a 8-2 record while his career record is a poor 30-33.

The 26-year-old Spaniard also won a rematch over Marat Safin with the same score a day earlier after beaten by the Russian big man in the semi-final at Paris Masters days ago.

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