LONDON: Lleyton Hewitt survived a scare in the shape of a giant Belgian on Thursday before narrowly keeping alive his hopes of a record fourth successive Stella Artois title.

The Australian world No 1 and Wimbledon champion withstood a barrage of swinging left-handed serves and powerfully-clubbed groundstrokes from Dick Norman before advancing 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 in a shade over two hours.

Hewitt's reward is a place in the quarter-finals of the 800,000-euro grasscourt event, where he will play France's Sebastien Grosjean, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Todd Reid.

"He (Norman) serves so well... it helps when you are coming down from 6 foot 8 inches I guess," Hewitt said. "I don't think anyone at Wimbledon is going to serve any better than that.

"That was a different kind of match out there... he made it very hard to find a rhythm."

Hewitt was made to scrap all the way in his match against the 2.03-metre tall Norman, an imposing figure at the best of times, who is even more of an obstacle on a slick grass court.

After nicking the opening set on a tiebreak he was powerless to prevent the towering Belgian from charging through the second to square matters at the Queen's Club.

Hewitt was joined in the last eight by second seed Andre Agassi, No 3 Andy Roddick and Britain's three-times runner-up Tim Henman.

Agassi, looking unamused at being put on a dewy grasscourt in the early evening, destroyed fellow former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek in just 48 minutes.

Lashing winners all over the court, Agassi crushed the Dutchman 6-1, 6-2 and next faces Xavier Malisse.

By contrast, Roddick and Henman were made to toil hard for their wins.

Roddick tussled with Briton Greg Rusedski on Centre Court before prevailing 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, threatening Rusedski's service speed record with a 236.6 kilometreper hour delivery.

That serve was officially clocked as the second fastest ever, just a touch slower than Rusedski's world record 239.8 kilometreper hour serve at Indian Wells five years ago.

Roddick will face fellow American Taylor Dent in the last eight.

Henman again made life difficult for himself, dropping the first set against little-known Frenchman Cyril Saulnier before winning 6-7, 6-3, 6-3.

Agencies via Xinhua

(China Daily 06/14/2003 page7)