Cruz Hewitt has claimed one of the biggest scalps of his junior career, defeating world No.806 Joshua Sheehy 6-4 6-3 in the first round of the Playford Challenger qualifying phase in South Australia.
Hewitt, 15, broke serve at 2-2 in the second set shouting a massive "come on" reminiscent of his father, Lleyton.
Another break of serve arrived for the Aussie on match point, as Sheehy, the ninth-seeded American and world No.266 in doubles, hit the ball out which sent Hewitt jumping up and down in pure elation.
Three of Hewitt's seven ITF titles have come in 2024; the latest being a J100 event in Christchurch last weekend.
As a result, he moved into the top-100 of the ITF rankings for the first time.
There was also another piece of good news this week at the Tennis NSW Awards for Cruz, winning the Junior Athlete of the Year award.
During the official 2025 Australian Open launch last Thursday, Lleyton confirmed that he expects Cruz to play in the junior singles main draw at Melbourne Park.
"Most likely he’ll be playing in the juniors [at the 2025 Australian Open], which is pretty awesome for him again. He got the experience of being there earlier this year," the former world No.1 said.
"I think it’s every kid’s dream to play in a Grand Slam, but we’re very fortunate being in this country, that we get it in our backyard as well.
"He’s obviously seen a lot of these players before him that have played, so [it's] pretty exciting."
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