Hewitt to use Adelaide as Australian Open tune up

MELBOURNE, Oct 5 (Reuters) Home hope Lleyton Hewitt will use the Adelaide International tournament to fine tune his preparations for the Australian Open in January, organisers said today.

The world number 18, who scored his first professional title win aged 16 at the Adelaide tune-up in 1998, will play in the January 1-7 hardcourt event ahead of the opening grand slam of the season in Melbourne from January 15-28.

''Obviously Adelaide is where I broke through for my first professional title and I just love playing here,'' the 25-year-old said in a statement.

''It's so important to get your preparation right for a grand slam and I think starting the year at Adelaide will set me up for a strong Australian Open campaign.'' Hewitt's preparations for his home grand slam were given a timely boost this week when organisers said they would resurface the Melbourne Park courts in the hope of achieving more uniform ball speeds through the duration of the tournament.

The move follows years of criticism from Hewitt that courts were too slow and that tournament officials were doing too little to try and secure a home winner of the event.

''Where we ended up for the tournament last year, in the last week, is ideally where we want to have the entire tournament this year,'' new tournament director Craig Tiley said at the event launch in Melbourne this week.

''The perception was certainly that during the first week courts were slower than the second week,'' Tiley said. ''Our objective, from day one, is to have uniformity and consistency throughout the tournament.'' Former Wimbledon and US Open champion Hewitt came closest to winning the Australian Open when he finished runner-up to Russia's Marat Safin in 2005.

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