Hewitt wins second-round match

<br>SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (AP) _ Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt of Australia struggled early but needed just two sets to advance to the third round in the Franklin Templeton Tennis Classic on Thursday. <br><br>Hewitt

Friday, March 7th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (AP) _ Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt of Australia struggled early but needed just two sets to advance to the third round in the Franklin Templeton Tennis Classic on Thursday.

Hewitt defeated South Africa's Wayne Ferreira, 7-5, 6-1 and advanced to a quarterfinals match against sixth-seeded Alex Corretja of Spain, a 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-1 winner over Frenchman Amaud Di Pasquale.

``I was able to take it to another level and raise my game and got off to a good start in the second set,'' said Hewitt, the 2000 champion of the tournament. ``You can't expect to be going out there and timing the ball perfectly every time right from the start. It's nice to be able to lift your game when you get into a tough situation and you really need to.''

In other second round matches, third-seeded Argentine David Nalbandian defeated countryman Franco Squillari, 6-2, 7-6 (5); and Mark Philippoussis beat fellow Australian Scott Draper, 6-0, 6-4.

Hewitt is 6-1 in matches this year. Corretja evened his season match record to 2-2.

``I need long matches, so for me, it was perfect,'' said Corretja, who has played in just two other tournaments this year. ``I haven't played many matches.

``Last year, I ended up a little tired. I needed to refocus my game.''

Corretja owns a 3-2 lifetime edge over Hewitt, winning their last three meetings.

``He is in the same situation as I am for this year,'' Corretja said of Hewitt. ``He hasn't played too much, so we both are trying to look forward to getting to our best shape.

``I have beat him before, so it will be interesting.''

Nalbandian, a finalist at Wimbledon last year, is appearing at Scottsdale for the first time.

Philippoussis, who won the tournament in 1997, has a 15-2 career record at Scottsdale. It was his first meeting with Draper.