June 01, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 15, 1428

PARIS, May 31: His back creaks these days and his shots lack venom but Lleyton Hewitt proved again on Thursday the value of guts when he hit back from two sets down to crush former champion Gaston Gaudio at the French Open.

The tenacious Aussie hustler, a former Wimbledon and US Open champion, came through 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 against the Argentine to take his place in the third round alongside reigning champion Rafael Nadal and two of the young guns of men's tennis.Second seed Nadal, bidding to emulate Bjorn Borg's hat-trick of titles here, eased past Italian qualifier Flavio Cipolla 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 while Serbian sixth seed Novak Djokovic, tipped to challenge the Federer-Nadal monopoly, breezed past French qualifier Laurent Recouderc 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, a year older than Djokovic at 21, also laid down an impressive marker on the clay when the 16th seed reached the third round for the first time with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Dane Kristian Pless.

“Everybody expects me to be one of the guys who can actually hurt the best two players in the world and I'm aware of that,” Djokovic, who beat Nadal on the way to winning the Miami Masters series, told reporters.

Women’s world No 2 Maria Sharapova, still mastering the claycourt craft, showed no ill effects from the shoulder injury that has disrupted her season when the 20-year-old Russian thrashed American Jill Craybas 6-2, 6-1.

Australian Open champion Serena Williams, winner here in 2002, also reached the third round, although she was made to work overtime in the second set, coming from 0-3 down to win 6-0, 7-6.

“I'm not really used to the clay, I was just kind of a little bit everywhere today,” eighth seed Williams said.

Rising Serbian talent Ana Ivanovic, the seventh seed, and experienced Swiss Patty Schnyder also booked their places in the third round with straight sets victories.

Gaudio, who beat Hewitt on the way to winning the title here in 2004, looked set for a repeat of that result before the demons that have left him feeling like quitting this year returned.

“He's a great shotmaker and you don't really know what he's going to come up with,” Hewitt, who had an eight-week lay-off with back trouble, said.

“In the first two sets he played great but once I got the fourth I felt pretty confident.”

Hewitt broke in the first game of the fourth set courtesy of two Gaudio double faults and he made an early breakthrough in the fifth to leave the Argentine, one of 10 to reach the second round, despondent.

It was the second time in consecutive Grand Slams he had recovered from a two-set deficit, having also achieved the feat at the Australian Open.

Late on Wednesday, Roger Federer moved into the third round in the nick of time with a 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 defeat of wildcard Thierry Ascione.

After another day of low cloud and drizzle at Roland Garros, the Swiss world No 1 had to wait until after 1900 local time to get on court and said it was a race against the clock to complete his victory.

“Conditions were shocking,” a clearly ruffled Federer told reporters after needing six match points to close out the victory in rapidly fading light.

“I tried to get out of it as quick as possible. It's not so easy when you go into a match and you have basically one hour 45 or two hours to complete it. So it was tough.”

After the 10-time Grand Slam winner outclassed 168th-ranked Ascione in the first two sets it looked as though he would be heading for his evening meal in quick time.

However, Ascione threw a spanner in the works in the third set with some inspired tennis to prolong the contest on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Federer squandered two match points at 5-4 as he was broken for the first time and saw another three go begging in the tiebreak as Ascione battled back from 6-3 down.

Ascione had two points to take the match into a fourth set and a probable Thursday finish before Federer edged the tiebreak 10-8 at the sixth time of asking.

Federer, bidding for the only Grand Slam title to elude him after falling in the final last year to claycourt nemesis Rafael Nadal, said he was pleased that he would now have a day off, although it was a close shave.

“I know they want to get their match over and done with,” he said of the schedulers.

“What I don't like is if they think that, okay, you know I'm the favourite, I should win this in straight sets, let's get Roger's match over and done with and then he's happy.

“What about if it doesn't turn out this way, you know? I'll be very upset. And I was already not too happy playing so late.

You start stressing out because I could hardly see the ball.”

Federer will face Italian Potito Starace in the third round.

Thursday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Second round: 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat Flavio Cipolla (Italy) 6-2, 6-1, 6-4; 12-David Ferrer (Spain) beat Diego Hartfield (Argentina) 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4); 23-Carlos Moya (Spain) beat Florent Serra (France) 6-4, 6-2, 6-4; 7-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3; Juan Pablo Brzezicki (Argentina) beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-0; Olivier Patience (France) beat Mariano Zabaleta (Argentina) 7-5, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4; 14-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) beat Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2; 20-Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) beat Mathieu Montcourt (France) 6-1, 6-1, 6-4; Jan Hajek (Czech Republic) beat Bohdan Ulihrach (Czech Republic) 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-2; 6-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Laurent Recouderc (France) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1; 16-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) beat Kristian Pless (Denmark) 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.

Women’s singles:

Second round: 15-Shahar Peer (Israel) beat Edina Gallovits (Romania) 6-4, 6-1; 8-Serena Williams (US) beat Milagros Sequera (Venezuela) 6-0, 7-6 (7-3); Karin Knapp (Italy) beat 22-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3; Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) beat 29-Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 7-5, 1-6, 8-6; 25-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) beat Nicole Pratt (Australia) 6-0, 6-1; 2-Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Jill Craybas (US) 6-2, 6-1; 7-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) beat Sania Mirza (India) 6-1, 6-4; Raluca Olaru (Romania) beat Tatiana Poutchek (Belarus) 6-3, 6-0; 17-Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) beat Vera Dushevina (Russia) 6-4, 6-2; 14-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) beat Katerina Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-3, 6-2.

Wednesday’s remaining results:

Men’s singles:

Second round: 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Thierry Ascione (France) 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (10-8); 29-Filippo Volandri (Italy) beat Martin Vassallo Arguello (Argentina) 7-6 (7-2), 7-5, 6-2; Michael Llodra (France) beat 32-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 2-6, 6-2, 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 6-4; 15-David Nalbandian (Argentina) beat Ivan Navarro (Spain) 7-5, 6-4, 6-4; Gael Monfils (France) beat 18-Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1; Potito Starace (Italy) beat Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) 6-2, 6-4, 6-2; 17-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) beat Stefan Koubek (Austria) 6-4, 7-5, 6-3; Juan Monaco (Argentina) beat 27-Juergen Melzer (Austria) 6-2, 6-3, 6-2; 4-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) beat Werner Eschauer (Austria) 7-5, 6-3, 6-1.

First round: Flavio Cipolla (Italy) beat Teimuraz Gabashvili (Russia) 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 5-2 – Gabashvili retired; 23-Carlos Moya (Spain) beat Andreas Seppi (Italy) 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-0; 12-David Ferrer (Spain) beat Daniele Bracciali (Italy) 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.Women’s singles:

Second round: 6-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) beat Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzbekistan) 6-2, 6-4; 16-Li Na (China) beat Pauline Parmentier (France) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; 27-Samantha Stosur (Australia) beat Maria Kirilenko (Russia) 6-1, 3-6, 7-5; 4-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) beat Catalina Castano (Colombia) 6-3, 6-3; Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (France) beat Kveta Peschke (Czech Republic) 6-1, 6-1; Michaella Krajicek (Netherlands) beat Shenay Perry (US) 6-4, 5-7, 6-1; 18-Marion Bartoli (France) beat Andrea Petkovic (Germany) 0-6, 6-2, 6-3; 23-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) beat Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5); 19-Tathiana Garbin (Italy) beat Nuria Llagostera (Spain) 6-4 6-3.—Reuters