By Deborah Curtis-SetchellHistory has a habit of repeating itself. Australian qualifier Cruz Hewitt, 17, won his first ATP Tour match on debut in Washington — almost 28 years after his father, former world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt, claimed his first Tour victory as a 16-year-old in Adelaide.In felling fellow qualifier American Marcos Giron 6-3 6-4, Hewitt Jnr also became the youngest since Japanese Kei Nishikori to win an opener in Washington. Not surprising that Hewitt Snr, also a Washington ex-champion, has been courtside to cheer his son on and to hit with him on the practice courts, no doubt imparting sage advice.Historically speaking, the only other former No 1 with a son (Leo) who has won at the ATP Tour level is Björn Borg. Several dads and former players are at the opposite end of the ranking spectrum whose respective sons they have coached to greater heights than they ever achieved themselves, namely Mikhailovich Zverev, Stefano Cobolli and Apostolos Tsitsipas. Meanwhile, Cruz Hewitt has surged up the rankings from a lowly No 612 to No 357. If he continues on that trajectory and catches up to his famous dad’s one-time pole position, they really would be halting history in its tracks.Back to reality and the fact the next test in Washington for Hewitt Jnr was to face off against defending champion and “surrogate dad”, current Australian No 1 Alex de Minaur. De Minaur in his opening round had to contend with Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is resurgent after winning the Gstaad title last week. The Greek No 1, ironically, recently parted ways with his own father, Apostolos, as a long-term coach and has beaten the Australian in 12 out of 13 previous head-to-heads. However, on this occasion it was De Minaur who kept his head and prevailed 6-4 3-6 6-3. Facing this calibre of round 2 opponent, as a talented teenage aspirant with big boots to fill, will either take the wind out of one’s sails or put fire in one’s belly.Hewitt Jnr can draw inspiration from Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar, also coached by his father, who, on debut, caused the first upset of this Masters 500 in sending 8th seed Frenchman Arthur Fils packing in straight sets, 7-6(5) 6-3, demonstrating extraordinary composure.The Spaniard has now dismantled three top 30 players on hard courts. And he didn’t stop there, carving through 2015 champion Kei Nishikori again in straight sets, 6-3 6-2, the match highlight being a 21-shot rally, which went Jodar’s way. Overall it was an impressive feat, catapulting the 19-year-old into his 6th Tour-level quarter-final this year, even though Nishikori is playing his farewell season on Tour. The Spanish Next Gen star admittedly feels at home in this neck of the woods, having played college tennis at the University of Virginia.Next up for Jodar will be fourth seed Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who is a handful on any given day.And yet another young gun — Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak — dished out an opening round shock when he blew away home favourite No 21 Tommy Paul, only to then be blitzed in turn by American No 1 Taylor Fritz. This is Paul’s first defeat since his marriage to long-term girlfriend Paige Lorenze, which several former and current American players attended, including John Isner, Reilly Opelka and Frances Tiafoe, and which might explain Paul’s below-par performance. Yet, it would not excuse Tiafoe, another Washington 2026 fatality, from getting axed by Frenchman Terence Atmane 6-4 3-6 6-4, given Tiafoe made it to the semis at this venue in 2024 and, as a Maryland local, had his sights firmly set on lifting the trophy.His young compatriot, Alex Michelsen, made up for the deficit in eliminating Frenchman Adrian Mannarino — who had caused a stir in defeating American Learner Tien in the previous round — to grab a quarters berth against Fritz.On the WTA side of the draw, the Americans opened only moderately better, in that former Australian Open champion Madison Keys received her early marching orders from Russian Liudmila Samsonova, while Annette Krueger managed to overturn British No 2 Katie Boulter 3-6 6-2 6-2, who may be forgiven for this upset in that she too has recently walked down the aisle. I’m not sure one can equally forgive British No 1 Emma Raducanu, who, plagued by ensuing injuries, withdrew from this event, as well as the pending Canadian Open. One WTA player clawing her way back to habitual victory after a dismal Wimbledon performance is Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka. She has reached her 100th week as world No 1, joining only nine other players in this illustrious category.Meanwhile, take a bow, Alexandra Eala, who eliminated defending champion Leylah Fernandez in a three-set thriller to reach the quarters after the Filipino had fought her way back in another blockbuster against China’s Qinwen Zheng.Russian Anastasia Potapova’s win over veteran Venus Williams was more predictable, if not inevitable. Yet so far the start of the American swing is proving to be anything but predictable.Reuters