Lleyton Hewitt will begin the defence of his US Men’s Clay Court title against Indian lucky loser Somdev Dewarman following a busy day of first round play in Houston, Texas.

Top seed Andy Roddick ended his losing streak against fellow American James Blake at the ATP Morgan Keegan Championships but third seed Radek Stepanek and fourth seed Tommy Haas crashed out in Memphis on Wednesday.

Retiring former world number one Marat Safin showed there is still life in him yet as he overcame fifth seed Phillipp Petzschner in their first-round meeting at the Thailand Open today.

Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin del Potro and Gael Monfils were relentless today as they sealed their places in round two of the French Open.

Lleyton Hewitt moved within touching distance of his first title in more than two years and first clay court championship in a decade after defeating Russian Evgeny Korolev in the semi-finals of the US Men's Clay Court Championships.

Roger Federer remains on course for a record-equalling 14th grand slam title after easily defeating Evgeny Korolev 6-2 6-3 6-1 in the second round at the Australian Open today.

Roger Federer admitted he had been made to “battle hard” before securing victory in his Australian Open first-round clash with Andreas Seppi today.

Third seed Novak Djokovic upped his game considerably to breeze into the third round of the French Open today.

RAFAEL NADAL was one point away from losing the first set before rallying to take command of his first-round match with American Robert Kendrick to move into the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Two-time former champion Lleyton Hewitt was knocked out of the ATP Next Generation Adelaide International on Thursday after losing his round-robin encounter with Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn in three sets.