The Hindu : Sport : Hewitt advances to third round after valiant effort

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Hewitt advances to third round after valiant effort

Nadal, Sharapova progress; Bhupathi, Paes move up in doubles while Sania loses to Ivanovic

TRUE GRIT: Lleyton Hewitt found a way to claw his way back from a couple of sets down against former champion Gaston Gaudio, in one of the toughest second-round matches. — PHOTO: AFP

Paris: Lleyton Hewitt rallied from two sets down for the fourth time in his career and beat 2004 champion Gaston Gaudio 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the French Open on Thursday.

Hewitt missed two months because of a back injury and returned at the Rome Masters in early May.

He broke his Argentine opponent in the third and seventh games of the third set, and then again to open each of the two remaining sets.

"He's got to be one of the toughest second-round players to play," said Hewitt, who lost to Gaudio in the 2004 quarterfinals. "The first two sets he played fantastic."

The 14th-seeded Australian made 25 unforced errors in the first two sets, but limited that to 19 in the final three. He also had 20 aces while Gaudio double-faulted 13 times.

"I felt like I had a lot of opportunities to go up a break in the first set," Hewitt said.

Nadal looms

Hewitt stayed on course for a fourth-round rematch with two-time defending champion Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros. He had lost to Nadal at the same stage last year.

The second seeded Spaniard advanced with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 win over Italian Flavio Cipola.

Maria Sharapova, who missed nearly two months of the season with a right shoulder injury, advanced to the third round in the women's draw, easily beating Jill Craybas of the United States 6-2, 6-1.

Australian Open champion Serena Williams raced through the first set but was stretched in the second against Milagros Sequera, finally winning 6-0, 7-6(3). Ana Ivanovic advanced by beating Sania Mirza 6-1, 6-4.

The 20-year-old from Hyderabad, who once again had heavy strapping around her right knee, was no match early on for the power-hitting of the seventh seed and she ceded the first set in just 23 minutes.

She steadied the ship by holding her serve after a marathon opening game to the second set and shook Ivanovic at times with some of her trademark bludgeoning forehands.

Mirza stayed the pace until 4-4 when Ivanovic profited from some loose play on the Indian's part to dominate the rallies.

Ivanovic made no mistake in wrapping up the win on her following service game concluding it with a backhand drive down the line.

"After my injury I feel like I've had to start from scratch again. My left leg still feels a lot stronger than my right. I am pleased though because I thought it would take a lot longer to start hitting the ball right again, and clay isn't my favourite surface," said Sania.

"It has been very hard coming back and I only started playing again a week before the start of the tournament."

"I'm really looking forward to getting back on grass. I expect I will have an interesting few matches in Birmingham on the way to Wimbledon."

Federer advances

On Wednesday, top-ranked Roger Federer advanced to the third round, stopping Thierry Ascione 6-1, 6-2, 7-6(8).

In men's doubles, Mahesh Bhupathi, partnering the Czech Republic's Radek Stepanek, won his first round match with ease. The duo beat the 12th seeded Polish pairing of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 6-4, 6-0 in 68 minutes.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, the third-seeded Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes and Martin Damm quelled the challenge of local hopes Jeremy Chardy and Jonathan Eysseric 7-6(4), 7-6(2) to advance to the second round. — Agencies

SCOREBOARD

Prefix denotes seeding:

Women: Second round: 14- Patty Schnyder (Sui) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) 6-3, 6-2; 17- Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) bt Vera Dushevina (Rus) 6-4, 6-2; Ioana Raluca Olaru (Rom) bt Tatiana Poutchek (Blr) 6-3, 6-0; 7-Ana Ivanovic (Srb) bt Sania Mirza (Ind) 6-1, 6-4; 2-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Jill Craybas (USA) 6-2, 6-1; 25-Lucie Safarova (Cze) bt Nicole Pratt (Aus) 6-0, 6-1; Alla Kudryavtseva (Rus) bt 29-Gisela Dulko (Arg) 7-5, 1-6, 8-6; 8-Serena Williams (USA) bt Milagros Sequera (Ven) 6-0, 7-6(3); 15-Shahar Peer (Isr) bt Edina Gallovits (Rom) 6-4, 6-1; Karin Knapp (Ita) bt 22-Alona Bondarenko (Ukr) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

6-Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) 6-2, 6-4; 16-Li Na (Chn) bt Pauline Parmentier (Fra) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; 27- Samantha Stosur (Aus) bt Maria Kirilenko (Rus) 6-1, 3-6, 7-5; 18- Marion Bartoli (Fra) bt Andrea Petkovic (Ger) 0-6, 6-2, 6-3; 23- Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt Timea Bacsinszky (Sui) 6-3, 7-6 (5); 14-Patty Schnyder (Sui) bt Martina Sucha (Svk) 2-6, 6-1, 6-2; 12-Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Jelena Kostanic Tosic (Cro) 6-3, 6-1; 3-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Ekaterina Bychkova (Rus) 6-0, 6-3.

4-Jelena Jankovic (Srb) bt Cat- alina Castano (Col) 6-3, 6-3; 1- Justine Henin (Bel) bt Tamira Paszek (Aut) 7-5, 6-1.

Men: Second round: 2- Rafael Nadal (Esp) bt Flavio Cipola (Ita) 6-2, 6-2, 6-4; 16-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) bt Kristian Pless (Den) 7-5, 6-3, 6-4; 6-Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Laurent Recouderc (Fra) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1; 20-Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt Mathieu Montcourt (Fra) 6-1, 6-1, 6-4; Jan Hajek (Cze) bt Bohdan Ulihrach (Cze) 1-6, 6-2, 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-2; 14-Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt Gaston Gaudio (Arg) 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2; Olivier Patience (Fra) bt Mariano Zabaleta (Arg) 7-5, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4; Juan Pablo Brzezicki (Arg) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Esp) 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-0; 7-Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) bt Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) 6-4, 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3.

1-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Thierry Ascione (Fra) 6-1, 6-2, 7-6(8); Michael Llodra (Fra) bt 32-Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 2-6, 6-2, 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-4; 15-David Nalbandian (Arg) bt Ivan Navarro (ESP) 7-5, 6-4, 6-4; Gael Monfils (Fra) bt 18- Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.

4-Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt Werner Eschauer (Aut) 7-5, 6-3, 6-1; Juan Monaco (Arg) bt 27-Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 6-2, 6-3, 6-2; 17- Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp) bt Stefan Koubek (Aut) 6-4, 7-5, 6-3.

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