Hewitt moves into third round

NEW YORK, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Top seed and defending champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia and American James Blake posted victories at the U.S. Open Thursday, setting the stage for a rematch of their racially charged five-set match of last year.

After rain delayed the start of play just over five hours, Hewitt, seeking his second consecutive Grand Slam title after winning Wimbledon, held off qualifier Noam Akun of Israel, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, 6-1.

Blake fought his way past Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, to set up a showdown with Hewitt in the third round. Last year, Blake had a two sets to one lead over Hewitt in a bitterly contested second round match. But the former Harvard star then began cramping and Hewitt rallied to win in five sets.

Hewitt touched off a major controversy when he appeared to complain to the chair umpire that an African American linesman was favoring Blake, who also is black. Hewitt denied the accusations but the controversy followed him all the way through his run to the championship.

Blake said he was just happy to be in the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time and is not concerned with revenge.

"To get over this hurdle (second round), that's a positive," said Blake. "Now I feel like the pressure's off. I've done my best so far. I'm playing the No. 1 player in the world. I really have no pressure.

"I don't think he's lost a set yet. He's the defending champion. If I lose, I'm losing to a great player. I have the confidence that I can beat a player like him since I was winning last year before unfortunately having some problems physically.

"Also, I'm coming off my best win ever, over Andre Agassi, a week ago. I have the confidence. I know it's possible."

Blake would not be drawn into a discussion about the furor that was created last year.

"I really haven't thought about it that much. I know it's you (media) guys' jobs to make it a story, it's your job to report on those things. But my job is to play tennis. That's what I've focused on."

Hewitt also said he has put last year's incident in the past and is focused solely on making another run at the title.

"I don't think about it at all," said Hewitt. "James and I are fine about it. We spoke after the situation. That was pretty much the end of it. I've played James twice since then. It's going to be a tough match. The crowd should really be into it. I'm looking forward to it."

American stars Andre Agassi, Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati also advanced Thursday with impressive victories.

Agassi, seeded sixth, ravaged fellow American Justin Gimelstob, 6-0, 6-1, 6-1, in just 66 minutes. Williams, who is seeded second, blew past Alicia Molik of Australia, 6-1, 6-2, and Capriati, seeded third, took out Tina Pisnik of Slovenia, 6-4, 6-2.

Two other former women's champions were in action. Fourth seed Lindsay Davenport completed her rain-delayed match against Petra Mandula of Hungary with a 6-4, 6-2 victory. No. 6 Monica Seles is took on Barbara Schwartz of Austria.

Davenport led Mandula, 6-4, 2-2, Wednesday night when rain forced the match to be suspended and she won all four games when action resumed Thursday.

Fourth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia turned in a dismal performance and was routed by long-time nemesis Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1. Hrbaty is now 8-4 lifetime against Kafelnikov.

Eighth seed Albert Costa of Spain, the French Open champion, also was an upset victim, falling to Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, 1-6, 6-7 (11-13), 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.

In key women's second round play, ninth seed Martina Hingis, a former champion who needed a wild card entry to compete, defeated qualifier Antonella Serra Zanetti of Italy, 6-4, 6-1.

No. 10 Amelie Mauresmo of France took out Cristina Torrens Valero of Spain, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2.

Okun had his chances against Hewitt in the opening set. He served for the set at 6-5 and was broken. Okun then failed to convert on two set points in the tiebreak and Hewitt took control of the match the rest of the way.

Blake overcame a lapse in the second set to cruise past Davydenko in the third and fourth sets.

Agassi needed just 16 minutes to win the first set against Gimelstob and won 11 consecutive games before Gimelstob finally got on the board.