Tennis world blown away after Cruz Hewitt does unthinkable against No.2 seed at Wimbledon

Cruz Hewitt has stormed into the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon boys' tournament after a massive upset win against second seed, Jamie Mackenzie. In one of the biggest victories of the 17-year-old's career, the unseeded son of Aussie tennis legend Lleyton Hewitt stunned his more fancied German opponent 6-3 6-4 to book his passage into the last-eight in just 69 minutes.

The victory sees the young Hewitt become the first Aussie to progress this far in the boys' event since Alex de Minaur a decade ago. And he was quick to praise the support of his father, who claimed the second of his career grand slam singles titles at Wimbledon almost a quarter of a century ago.

"I've warmed up with him every day, so he helps me a lot," the 17-year-old said about his famous dad. "Obviously, having him on the sidelines has helped, just to support me being there. I'm grateful for him in my corner."

Lleyton has been courtside for Cruz's previous matches, but was actually playing in a doubles legends' match at the same time as his son's incredible victory. The 17-year-old will now face Bulgarian ninth seed Dimitar Kisimov in the last-eight on Friday (Aussie time).

And he'll be hoping to go one better than de Minaur in the same event in 2016 when the Aussie lost to Denis Shapovalov in the boys' final. The third round victory is already the best result for Hewitt in boys' majors to date, but the youngster is hungry for even greater success.

Cruz Hewitt buzzing after huge upset win

"Every tournament, you come in and you hope to win it, but I'm just here taking it one match at a time," he said. "So far, three matches and I've enjoyed playing every one. So next match, I'll try and do the same and then we'll see how it goes."

There is always enormous scrutiny and expectation around Hewitt being the son of an Aussie tennis legend. But after skipping junior events since last year's US Open to hone his game on the competitive senior World Tennis circuit, he's risen to 606 in the world rankings, and has embraced the inevitable attention that comes with his famous name.

"The Australian people in the crowd have just been really good. I got a few 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussies!' today, and that definitely helps, gets my energy up," he said. "I perform better in those type of situations on the court. I showed my appreciation to those who were cheering for me and basically helping me get over the line. I appreciate everyone who does that."

Hewitt has previously made one final and a semi on his favoured grass court surface, but even he was impressed with the level of tennis he showcased against the second seed, Mackenzie. "I think I played pretty good match and feel like I did the right things. It's good to get the win, I'm pretty happy to be in the quarter-finals and happy that I get to play another match at this tournament."

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