No Open swan song for Lleyton Hewitt

The fire still burning within, Lleyton Hewitt refuses to believe Tuesday’s clash with Chinese wildcard Zhang Ze could be his Australian Open swan song.

Hewitt is lining up for a 19th consecutive title tilt at Melbourne Park, a feat no player in history has managed.

Only Andre Agassi, who contested 21 successive US Opens, and fellow Americans Jimmy Connors and Stan Smith, with 20 straight appearances at their home major, can boast longer streaks at a grand slam than Hewitt.

As ever, though, Hewitt isn’t looking beyond his first-round match, nor will he have the time or energy to savour his latest milestone moment.

“I’m trying to do absolutely everything in my power to get over the line and get the win,” said the 33-year-old former world No.1.

“Once those thoughts sort of enter your mind, it can probably distract you and be a little bit of a negative influence when you’re trying to perform at your best out there.

“So I’m that big a competitor, I think once I hit the match court out there, my focus will basically be on the one-on-one aspect out there and try to get the best out of myself.”

Zhang is ranked exactly 100 places below Hewitt at No.187 in the world and has lost both previous encounters with the Open’s greatest survivor.

Handed his most inviting draw in years, Hewitt is odds-on to advance to a second-round meeting with either Frenchman Julien Benneteau or German Benjamin Becker.

The 2005 runner-up is among five Australians in action on day two at Melbourne Park.

Samantha Stosur opens her tournament against Romanian Monica Niculescu, the country’s long-time No.1 and 20th seed happy to share the limelight this year with young gun Nick Kyrgios.

“There’s obviously a lot of attention on Nick, probably first and foremost,” Stosur said.

“But at the end of the day, I know what I want to achieve; I know what I want to do here.

“There might be a little bit less spotlight, but it’s certainly not all gone, I don’t think.”

Stosur’s failure to progress beyond the fourth round in a dozen previous visits to Melbourne Park is well known.

“But I don’t think that’s necessarily because of the spotlight being on me in the past,” said the former US Open champion.

“I think there’s numerous reasons why maybe I haven’t played my best tennis here in Australia so far.

“Obviously every year, I’m trying to make that better.”

Casey Dellacqua, enjoying a seeding for the first time at her home slam, plays Austrian Yvonne Meusburger, Olivia Rogowska faces American Nicole Gibbs and adopted Aussie Ajla Tomjlanovic takes on US qualifier Shelby Rogers.

GRAND SLAM SURVIVORS:

Consecutive appearances at grand slam championships in the open era (1968-2015):

MEN

Andre Agassi – 21 US Opens (1986-2006)

Jimmy Connors – 20 US Opens (1970-89)

Stan Smith – 20 US Opens (1964-83)

LLEYTON HEWITT – 19 Australian Opens (1997-2013)

Guillermo Vilas – 18 French Opens (1972-89)

Ivan Lendl – 16 US Opens (1979-94)

John McEnroe – 16 US Opens (1977-92)

WOMEN

Virginia Wade – 23 Wimbledons (1962-85)

Martina Navratilova – 22 Wimbledons (1973-94)

Martina Navratilova – 21 US Opens (1973-93)

Chris Evert – 19 US Opens (1971-89)

Chris Evert – 18 Wimbledons (1972-89)

Conchita Martinez – 18 Wimbledons (1988-2005)

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