Battling qualities delight dogged Hewitt

Lleyton Hewitt was delighted his renowned fighting spirit came to his rescue as he recovered from going two sets down to seal an epic victory over former champion Gaston Gaudio at the French Open.

The Australian, seeded 14th and one of the dark horses for the title, is known for his grit and determination and he needed it as he claimed a 4-6 3-6 6-2 6-4 6-2 win in almost three-and-a-half hours on Philippe Chatrier court.

Gaudio, the 2004 champion, looked in control when two sets up, but he is consistent for his inconsistency, and allowed Hewitt to launch an all-too-familiar fightback.

After seeing himself pegged back to two sets all, Gaudio trudged back to his seat after being broken in the opening game of the decider.

Hewitt had no further problems and set up a third-round clash with Finn Jarkko Nieminen, but he admitted Gaudio caused him all sorts of problems early on.

“He was probably one of the toughest second-round matches you can get here,” said the former world number one, who lost to Gaudio during the Argentinian’s run to the title three years ago.

“He was hitting his backhand great, and he wasn’t missing many balls. It was a matter of just hanging in there, and just focusing on winning one set at a time.

“It does make it hard playing a guy like that. He is going to have his ups and downs, and you just don’t know what you are going to get from him.”

Nieminen, seeded 20, thrashed Mathieu Montcourt, of France, 6-1 6-1 6-4 on Court 3, and Hewitt is expecting a tough next match.

“He is a good player,” he added. “He is a left-hander, but good off both sides. It will be a different kind of match to this one.”

Marcos Baghdatis had it almost as straightforward as Nieminen in his second-round match.

The Cypriot defeated Denmark’s Kristian Pless 7-5 6-3 6-4 on Court 1 to reach the third round at Roland Garros for the first time in three attempts.

He will next play Jan Hajek, who beat fellow Czech Bohdan Ulihrach in five sets.

Baghdatis, seeded 16, made his name in the tennis world by reaching the final of the Australian Open last year, before losing to Roger Federer.

He has also made it to the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2006, but he is now beginning to feel at home on the dirt.

“I didn’t play so good on clay last year, I had some difficulties,” said the Paris-based player. “Slowly, slowly, I’m finding my game on clay, starting to feel the way I have to play. I don’t see why here, I can’t play like I do on the hard and grass courts.”

Meanwhile, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, the sixth seed, secured a four-set victory over Frenchman Laurent Recouderc.

The 20-year-old Djokovic, a quarter-finalist at Roland Garros last year, won 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-1 on Suzanne Lenglen court.

Croat Ivo Ljubicic joined him in the third round thanks to a 6-4 6-3 6-7 (3/7) 6-3 triumph over Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka.

And Spanish duo Carlos Moya and David Ferrer also progressed with comfortable wins against Florent Serra and Diego Hartfield, respectively.

Moya, seeded 23, won 6-4 6-2 6-4 and 12th-seed Ferrer prevailed 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7/4).

Other winners on Thursday were Olivier Patience, who defeated Mariano Zabaleta in five sets, and Juan Pablo Brzezicki – a straight-sets victor against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.