MELBOURNE, Australia - Lleyton Hewitt heightened his billing as one of the most dangerous unseeded players at next week's Australian Open when he beat world No. 6 Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday at the Kooyong Classic.
Hewitt defied his current ranking of 82 to beat Berdych in only 88 minutes and said later he felt he would be competitive against anyone at the season's first grand slam.
The former world No. 1 posted his second-straight win over a top tier player after beating 15th-ranked Canadian Milos Raonic in his opening match.
Hewitt said "I feel like I can compete with pretty much anyone out there. I hit with Roger (Federer) the other day and hit the ball extremely well."
Raonic beat Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-4, 6-4.
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