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De Minaur beats teen Hewitt in all-Aussie Washington clash / Photo: Emilee Chinn - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
De Minaur beats teen Hewitt in all-Aussie Washington clash
A clinical Alex de Minaur defeated fellow Australian Cruz Hewitt 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals in his Washington Open title defense.
Top-seeded De Minaur was always likely to prove too much for 17-year-old qualifier Hewitt -- son of Aussie great Lleyton Hewitt -- who had only captured his first ATP Tour victory in Tuesday's first round.
The first set threatened to become a demolition as an efficient de Minaur raced to a 5-0 lead.
But Hewitt found his feet, breaking back in the sixth game as De Minaur found the net and holding serve before succumbing 6-2.
Cheered on by a crowd that included his famous father, Hewitt started the second set brightly.
But he was broken again on his second service game and could not reel in De Minaur, who warmly embraced the youngster at the net after taking the match.
It was the first head-to-head ATP Tour match between the two, who have known each other for years with Hewitt's father captaining Australia's Davis Cup team.
"It was definitely weird," said De Minaur. "I knew I was going to play him on the tour someday, but I didn't actually expect it to be this week.
"It was an amazing feeling. Even all the lead up, seeing all the incredible pictures that we have together and how we've both grown up.
"I'm glad I managed to get through, but I'm sure we're going to have many battles in the years to come."
De Minaur will play American Brandon Nakashima, who upset Czech seventh seed Jakub Mensik 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-4 to reach the Washington quarter-finals for a second year running.
Women's top seed Jessica Pegula overcame an early scare to defeat Poland's Magdalena Frech 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 and book a quarter-final berth.
Frech took advantage of Pegula's wayward serve to win the first set before the American upped her game.
Pegula said she started the match "just a little off" after receiving a first-round bye.
"It's always just a little bit of trying to figure it out," she said.
"I wasn't quite attacking the ball, and I felt like once I did that, then everything else kind of started to click together.
"And then just trying to figure out my serve. I knew I could serve better than that," added the American after winning 12 of the last 15 games.
Pegula next plays fifth-seeded Anna Kalinskaya, who saved two match points to beat Indonesia's Janice Tjen 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9/7).
M.Vacanti--INP
