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Day Six Preview

01/19/2012 07:55:05 AM

Lleyton Hewitt's form and fitness is yet to be really tested at the Australian Open, but he is certain to get a full workout in the third round when he faces Canadian youngster Milos Raonic on Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night.

Hewitt needed four sets to get past pesky German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in the opening round and then had the luxury of an early night when American Andy Roddick retired from their match on Thursday when the Australian led by two sets to one.

The 30-year-old Australian has struggled in the past 12 months, not only with injury, but also with poor form and his opening two matches at Melbourne Park are yet to give us any indication on whether he is in decent condition or not.

Yes, he did enough to get past Stebe, but Roddick was clearly in discomfort during their clash and it may have been a far different score line had the American been close to full fitness.

However, if the past is anything to go by, we should never underestimate a champion and especially one that is playing in front of his home crowd.

Hewitt has called Rod Laver Arena his own over the past decade and a half, but questions still remain on whether he can lift one final time to eke out a win over a more fancied opponent.

Raonic had just turned seven years of age when Hewitt first appeared at Melbourne Park in 1997 and was still plying his trade in the juniors when the Australian finished runner up behind much loved Russian Marat Safin in the 2005 version of the Open.

Quite often experience can win over youth, but on this stage Hewitt is going to need every bit of his trademark grit and tenacity as Raonic is definitely no slouch.

The 21-year-old knocked out a couple of seeds on his way to the round of 16 in last year’s Australian Open and has already showed his class by claiming his first two ATP titles of his career in the past 12 months.

His resume may not look as good as Hewitt's currently does, but don't be surprised if it is just as long as the Australian's by the end of his career.

At 196cm, or six foot five in the old, unsurprisingly Raonic possesses a powerful serve and also hits his groundstrokes with tremendous venom.

He breezed past veteran Italian Filippo Volandri in three sets in the first round, before needing four to oust German Philipp Petzschner in the second.

Given Raonic has only just burst on to the scene in the past year or two and Hewitt has seldom played in the same period, it comes as no surprise to read that the duo have never met.

However, you can be assured that we will know come late Saturday night whether Hewitt is still capable of performing on the big stage.

While the night match between Hewitt and Raonic is the headline match on the Day Six schedule, there are many other mouth-watering matchups worth mentioning.

World No.1 Novak Djokovic and No.4 seed Andy Murray should have no problems progressing against Nicolas Mahut and Michael Llodra respectively, while the match between the unheralded Janko Tipsarevic and Frenchman Richard Gasquet could quite easily go the distance.

Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova are also in action on Saturday and have relatively simple matches,

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images
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