Hewitt's fuel reserves too high for Costa

There is only one question in the mind of Lleyton Hewitt. Does he have enough fuel in the tank to be crowned world No 1 for the second successive year?

Against the French Open champion, Albert Costa, a player who has also complained of fatigue this year, Hewitt was pushed to three sets in the Masters Cup here yesterday before winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Carlos Moya surprisingly defeated Marat Safin 6-4, 7-5 and Roger Federer dismissed the challenge of Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-4 in their opening matches, but those results mean hardly anything compared to the race to be No 1. Challenging Hewitt for that position is the American Andre Agassi.

"Holding No 1 would be a great way to finish a very long year," said the 21-year-old Hewitt. "It's a great honour to hold No 1. I've had it almost a full calendar year. When you've come this far, you don't want to let go just yet."

Hewitt's aggressive shot-making will help in his campaign to retain the top ranking. On the other hand, on return of serve particularly, Agassi is an even more aggressive player. Yesterday Hewitt hit 43 winners compared to just 15 for Costa.

Some of those winners broke the Spaniard at the beginning of the opening set as Hewitt cruised into an early lead. But, with the Australian unable to get much rhythm with his serve, Costa immediately broke Hewitt at the start of the second set and went on to level the match.

Hewitt wasted no time in regaining control with a break at the start of the third set and he then broke Costa again on match point to seal victory.

The Spaniard ended the rally on the final point by hitting the ball into the net. Hewitt finished with 13 aces to Costa's three, but he did struggle to get his first serve in, doing so only 41 per cent of the time.

Discussing the No 1 rivalry, Hewitt added: "Andre knows what he's in for and he knows exactly how to play big matches. He's done that throughout his career. I don't think he'll feel too much pressure.

"If he's the better guy on the day he'll win [his matches]; if his opponents are better, he'll lose – it's as simple as that."

At the start of the tournament, Agassi was 88 points behind Hewitt in the race for No 1. The points available at the Masters are: 20 points for a round-robin win, 40 points for a semi-final win, 50 points for winning the final and 150 points for going through the tournament unbeaten.

Each player has three round-robin matches and need to finish in the top two of their groups to reach the semi-finals. In other words, there are plenty of points to play for, and for Agassi to win – and he is likely to start today because his opponent is someone he should beat: Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic.