Third seed Lleyton Hewitt scurried through to the Wimbledon fourth round on Friday with a polished 7-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Justin Gimelstob of the United States.
The 2002 Wimbledon champion always held the initiative in an entertaining Centre Court duel against 28-year-old Gimelstob, who was troubled by a shoulder injury throughout.
The American, ranked 123, spent a good part of the first set flying horizontally through the air. Six times he dived full length to retrieve Hewitt shots.
It was an odd way to protect the back problem that caused the injury-prone American to pull out of Wimbledon qualifying and it would have had his yoga instructors tearing their hair out.
The crowd, though, loved it even if it did him little good. Hewitt set up victory in the first set tiebreak with an arching lob before nailing his first serve to win it 7-5.
Gimelstob was, not surprisingly, feeling his right shoulder by this stage and the American called a medical timeout in the change-over.
With Hewitt pacing impatiently around the backcourt like a dog waiting for its food, Gimelstob yelped in agony as the trainer manipulated him.
The pain, however did not stop him again taking to the skies at 4-5 in the second set, although this time the American slapped his forehead repeatedly as he lay in heap by the net in apparent recognition that it probably was not the wisest of tactics.
Hewitt had secured the only break of the second for 2-1 with a sizzling backhand pass and he duly served it out, sealing set point with a forehand winner.
Gimelstob, who has never been beyond round three at a Grand Slam, held serve admirably in the third set despite his obvious discomfort, until the 11th game.
In it Hewitt set up break point with a wonderful backhand pass that once again brought a dive followed by the inevitable scream of pain from his opponent.
Gimelstob then double-faulted lamely to lose the match.
In the last 16 Hewitt will face another American, Taylor Dent, whom he beat in five sets in the Wimbledon second round in 2001 but lost to at his hometown tournament in Adelaide earlier this year.
