Lleyton Hewitt may be the No. 1 tennis player in the world, but Friday afternoon at Tokyo's Ariake Colosseum he played second fiddle to a little-known slugger from Thailand.
Paradorn Srichaphan scored an emphatic 6-4, 6-3 win over top seed Hewitt to book his place in the semifinals of the AIG Japan Open. Srichaphan, a lanky 23-year-old ranked 31st in the world, used a booming serve and an effective backhand to ensure that Hewitt would not be around to defend his Japan Open title.
"To his credit, he played extremely well," said a low-key Hewitt after the match. "He played that power game that's caused a few upsets this year."
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