General / Editor / 05 March 2007 /

Lleyton Hewitt is looking forward to climbing up the world rankings after ending an eight-month drought with victory in the Las Vegas Open.

The former world number one suffered with injury last year and had not won a tournament since claiming the Wimbledon warm-up event at Queen's last summer.

The Australian also picked up a hamstring injury a couple of weeks ago and looked set for a frustrating spell on the sidelines but bounced back with victory over Juergen Melzer in the desert to secure his 26th ATP title.

The players traded breaks early in the first set before Hewitt took the Austrian's serve in the ninth game and then served out to take a one-set lead.

The second set was a close affair and the 26-year-old had to save four set points before sealing a 6-4 7-6 (12-10) success.

And the 2002 Wimbledon champion feels that his latest victory will do wonders for his game as the season unfolds.

"It is a big win," he confessed. "I've been so used to it in the past, winning tournaments early in the year.

"To win another title earlier in the year just gives you that much more confidence for the rest of the year."

The fiery Aussie now heads to Indian Wells in California for the Pacific Life Open and is looking forward to the challenges ahead as he tries to return to the world's top ten -
whenever that might be.

"I am not putting a date on it," he added. "I'll just see how things pan out.

"This week's been great and I haven't got too many points to defend between now and the
French Open and Queen's, so this is a time when you have to step it up.

"Apart from these next two hardcourt tournaments I am really looking forward to the claycourt tournaments this year.

"I feel like my last few claycourt matches have been good against tough players."

Hewitt looks likely to be among the frontrunners for the Pacific Life Open but Roger Federer will undoubtedly be favourite when the market opens for the ATP Masters Series event.

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