Houston: Martin Alund of Argentina wore down Lleyton Hewitt of Australia 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 on Wednesday in the US Men's Clay Court Championships before rain washed out the rest of the day's schedule.
Play was suspended at 2:47 p.m. local time at River Oaks Country Club after continuing rain left the clay courts too wet to continue. Top-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain and No. 2 Tommy Haas of Germany had their matches rescheduled for Thursday.
Hewitt, the former top-ranked player, broke Alund in the seventh game of the first set and closed out the set with an overhead winner.
Alund and Hewitt traded breaks in the second and third games of the second set before Alund took control. Hewitt was broken again in the sixth game and Alund escaped two break points before capturing the second set in the ninth game. Hewitt escaped three match points in the final game but then double-faulted to end the match.
Hewitt made the tiring trip from Uzbekistan after helping Australia to a 3-1 victory in Davis Cup play.
"It's tough to get back from there to play the next week," Hewitt said. "I just didn't feel close to 100 per cent. It was a stomach thing. It's frustrating. If I could have gotten through this match I could have felt better as the week goes on. It wasn't to be."
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