HOUSTON (AP)—Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela beat injury-slowed defending champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia 6-4, 6-3 on Friday in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships.
Hewitt, seeded fourth, played in his first tournament since undergoing surgery on his right hip Jan. 29. He made one charge after falling behind 5-0 in the second set, breaking the Argentine in the sixth and eighth games.
Chela, ranked 84th, ended the brief rally by breaking back in the ninth game.
Third-seeded Sam Querry of the United States also advanced, overcoming an erratic serve to beat Chile’s Nicolas Massu 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Hewitt struggled in his first singles match of the tournament against lucky loser Somdev Devvaman of India. Hewitt needed three sets and a third set tie-breaker to survive against the 116th-ranked challenger, 1-6, 6-0, 7-6 (2).
He didn’t have another rally against Chela. Hewitt won just one point in the first two games of the second set. He was broken at love in the first game and had difficulty reaching some balls.
In the third game, Hewitt double faulted at deuce, hit a forehand error and then was broken on Clela’s volley winner.
Massu avoided two break points in the second game but Querry pulled even with a break in the sixth and 10th games. Massu, trying to reach his first semifinal in three years, managed only one point in the final game. Querry ended it at the first match point with a solid cross-court forehand winner.
Querry had 10 aces and six double faults.