When I get up at five in the morning, sometimes I think I'm seeing things.

I turned on Tennis Channel's coverage from Hamburg early this morning, and during a change-over between Lleyton Hewitt and Juan Ignacio Chela, it appeared that the broadcast was being visited by some sort of alien spacecraft. The sky was dominated by some obscurely arranged object - maybe it was a zeppelin, which would have been fitting as the tournament is being held in Germany.

It turns out that what I was seeing was a retractable roof, constructed for the Center Court due to the frequently inclement weather that has plagued this event in the past. Relieved, but still amazed at German engineering of this stadium-cover, I kept going along with the Hewitt-Chela match, which was well into the first set.

But again, I started seeing things.

This time, the thing that I saw concerned the tennis on court. I saw a former world No 1 in Lleyton Hewitt actually look like his former dominant self! I've watched Hewitt a few times recently ('06 U.S. Open vs. Gasquet, '07 Tennis Channel Open final, and '07 Indian Wells v Tipsarevic come to mind), but every time I've sat down to do so, he's never inspired me to say "he looks like a former number one." This time, the Aussie (at least in the first set) still had fumes from those glory days.

Lleyton is essentially defined in the tennis world as a classic counter puncher, who patiently rallies, waiting for his chance to strike. I wouldn't say that he was exhibiting those qualities precisely - as Chela seemed to be the one who needed to most counter Hewitt's offense - but Hewitt was certainly dictating the points early on. He  wasn't overly aggressive, but he outclassed Chela in every facet of the game in the first set; most notably his play at net, his movement, and his forehands.


Rarely missing, Hewitt used the slow clay to his advantage. The deadening effect of the surface allowed him to catch up to anything that Chela threw at him, but more importantly, it allowed Hewitt to execute his shots with enough time to properly set them up. Overall, I think the clay suited Hewitt's game very nicely, and he rolled over Chela 6-2 in set one.

If the first set was classic Hewitt - very clinical - the second set didn't show the same calibre of play from the Aussie great. Up 3-1 and serving, Hewitt let Chela back in the match by not closing the door when he could have. Chela turned a throw-away match into a tight contest, and even had two set points (on Hewitt's serve). But in the nick of time, Lleyton drew on his experience and saved the two break/set points with ease. At 6-6, a tiebreaker was required, which would be completely one-sided in the end. Hewitt raced to a 6-1 lead, and went on to win the match 6-2, 7-6.

While Lleyton's performance wasn't flawless, his game showed shades of a dominant player. Hewitt was known for being an impenetrable force, for his all-around game, and of course, for his "COME ON!" chants. I saw all of those in Hamburg this morning. Now, this isn't what I see from Lleyton on a consistent basis - and for that reason, he isn't the best in the world anymore - but today, I could certainly tell that this was the former world No 1 on court.

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