Hewitt is son of ATP No. 1 Club member Lleyton Hewitt

Seventeen-year-old Cruz Hewitt earned his first ATP Tour win on Tuesday when he defeated Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Mubadala DC Open.

Hewitt is the youngest player to win a match at the Washington tournament since Kei Nishikori in 2007. Nishikori, now 36, won his first-round clash at the event Monday.

Hewitt is the son of ATP No. 1 Club member Lleyton Hewitt, who claimed his first tour-level victory as a 16-year-old in January 1998 in Adelaide, where he ultimately lifted the trophy. The only other No. 1 Club member with a son who has won an ATP Tour match is Bjorn Borg (Leo Borg).

“It's pretty surreal to win here,” Hewitt said. “Obviously I saw my dad play here. I came to his last tournament I remember. There are so many memories of that. To make it to round two, it's very special.”

The teen crushed a final forehand winner to eliminate Giron and celebrated with a “vicht”, which his father used during his career. Hewitt won 83 per cent of his first-serve points and did not face a break point according to Infosys ATP Stats.

The Australian became the fourth man born in 2008 or later to win a tour-level match (excluding Davis Cup). The other three are Diego Dedura, Thijs Boogaard and Moise Kouame.

A qualifier at the ATP 500 event, Hewitt has surged 255 places to No. 357 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. If he wins another match, the Aussie is projected to crack the Top 300.

Hewitt will next take on top seed and countryman Alex de Minaur or former World No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas.

“Obviously if I play Alex, that would be a dream to share the court with him,” Hewitt said. “He's like my older brother. I've known him basically my whole life. He's stayed with us. We have Christmas together, also. He's taught me so much, I think that would be a pretty cool memory for us.”

Did You Know?
Hewitt recently made a junior Grand Slam final for the first time at Wimbledon, where he fell in the championship match to Jordan Lee, an American who also competed in qualifying in Washington.