Cruz Hewitt is rapidly proving there might be something to all that talk about the apple not falling far from the tree.
The 17-year-old son of Australian tennis legend Lleyton Hewitt has pulled off another eye-catching victory on the ATP Tour, fighting back from a disastrous opening set to defeat American Sebastian Gorzny at the Winston-Salem Open.
And if Australian tennis fans weren’t already paying attention to the teenager’s rapid rise, they certainly are now.
Hewitt looked to be heading for a short afternoon when Gorzny raced through the opening set 6-1 in just 27 minutes.
But rather than fold, the young Aussie dug in.
He battled through lengthy rallies, found his rhythm on serve and forced the second set into a tie-break, which he claimed 7-3 to send the match into a decider.
With dad Lleyton enthusiastically cheering from the stands, Cruz then completed the comeback with a 6-4 third set to seal an impressive 1-6 7-6(3) 6-4 victory and advance to the round of 32.
It was the sort of stubborn, refuse-to-go-away performance Australian tennis fans became rather familiar with during his father’s career.
And plenty of tennis watchers noticed the resemblance.
Journalist José Morgado declared that Hewitt’s “dream summer continues”, while fans praised the teenager’s fighting spirit and composure after such a one-sided opening set.
The official ATP account summed up the reaction rather neatly with: “WHAT a comeback?!”
Perhaps even more exciting is that this is starting to look like considerably more than one memorable result.
The victory was Hewitt’s second at ATP Tour level, coming just weeks after he announced himself with a breakthrough win over experienced American Marcos Giron at the Mubadala Open in Washington.
Hewitt defeated Giron in straight sets for his maiden ATP Tour victory, a result that immediately turned heads given his age and relative inexperience at the sport’s highest level.
Now he’s backed it up with a very different kind of win – one that required him to recover from being comprehensively outplayed before finding a way back into the contest.
Hewitt had received a wildcard into the ATP 250 tournament at Winston-Salem, where his latest victory booked him a place in the last 32.
And things aren’t about to get any easier.
Waiting for Hewitt in the next round is fourth seed Arthur Fery, the British star enjoying a remarkable season that included a run to the Wimbledon semi-finals.
It represents another sizeable test for a teenager still taking his first steps on the senior tour.
But after two ATP victories in the space of a month – and a comeback that looked suspiciously familiar to anyone who watched his dad compete – Cruz Hewitt is giving Australian tennis fans plenty of reasons to get excited.
At 17, there is obviously a long road ahead. For now, though, one thing is becoming increasingly clear. The kid can fight.
