Atlanta: Lleyton Hewitt began warming up on Tuesday for the hard courts of the US Open with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Eduoard Roger-Vasselin in the first round of a rain-soaked Atlanta Open. The seventh-seeded Hewitt, who was runner-up two weeks ago on grass in Newport, Rhode Island, was one of three seeded players to finish his match before a pair of evening rain delays. Play eventually was suspended until Wednesday.
Yen-Hsun Lu, the No. 5 seed from Taiwan, beat qualifier Kevin King 6-3, 7-5; and eighth seed Evgeny Donskoy beat Rajeev Ram 6-3, 6-4. Sixth-seeded Mardy Fish was leading Michael Russell 6-4, 2-4 (15-0 on serve) when their match was delayed for a second time. This is Fish's just third tournament since he withdrew from the US Open last September because of an irregular heartbeat.
The top four seeds, Jon Isner, Kevin Anderson, Ivan Dodig and Igor Sijsling, had first-round byes.
Hewitt, the former world No. 1 who won the US Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2002, is looking forward to the final Grand Slam event of the year even though it's more than a month away. He's currently ranked No. 65 in the world.
"I hadn't hit a lot on hard court. I've always found that coming from grass to hard court is difficult," he said after winning in 88 minutes. "I feel like I've played very well for the most part ... I'm preparing for the US Open. When you've been No. 1 and won Slams, the big ones are what motivate you."
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