Newport, RI – Last year's runner-up Lleyton Hewitt was an easy second-round winner Wednesday at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
The fourth-seeded Aussie cruised past wild card and 2008 Newport runner-up Prakash Amritraj, of India, 6-2, 6-1 on the grass courts at the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum.
Hewitt lost to 6-foot-10 American star John Isner in last year's finale here, as Isner captured the title for a second year in a row.
The former world No. 1 Hewitt's quarterfinal opponent will be Czech Jan Hernych.
Meanwhile, third-seeded Dutchman Igor Sijsling handled Japan's Yuichi Sugita 6-3, 6-4 and Poland's Michal Przysiezny ousted eighth-seeded American Rajeev Ram, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. Ram was the surprise Newport champ in 2009.
Also on Day 3, the qualifier Hernych held off American Jack Sock 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, journeyman Michael Russell defeated qualifier fellow American Alex Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-4, and another 6-foot-10 slugger, Croat Ivo Karlovic, outlasted Canada's Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Russell will meet Sijsling in the round of eight.
The winner of this $520,000 event will claim $78,000.
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