Lleyton Hewitt needed to call on all his trademark fighting qualities before overcoming Gaston Gaudio in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters. The Australian 16th seed saved a match point in the second set before advancing 1-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-1.
"He was playing incredible tennis and I was just trying to hang in there. I was a bit lucky in the end," said Hewitt.
David Nalbandian, Guillermo Coria and Carlos Moya were among the other seeded players to advance on Wednesday.
Hewitt looked on his way to defeat when his Argentine opponent broke twice to rattle through the first set in 30 minutes.
Gaudio then took a 3-0 lead in the second set, and Hewitt's frustration was such that he received a warning for an audible obscenity in the sixth game.
The Argentine twice served for the match, at 5-4 and 6-5, but Hewitt refused to buckle.
Gaudio's game fell apart in the deciding set, and Hewitt established a 4-0 lead and took an unlikely win when Gaudio netted a return.
Coria, the favourite for the title after the demise of defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero on Tuesday, crushed Nicolas Kiefer 6-0 6-3.
Nalbandian battled past Spain's Felix Mantilla 6-0 5-7 7-6 (7/4).
Moya was given an easy route into the third round when Jarkko Nieminen pulled out of their match with a broken right wrist.
Sixth seed Tim Henman was taken to three sets for the second straight match before advancing at the expense of Spain's David Sanchez. In Wednesday's later matches, fourth seed Rainer Schuettler beat Jean-Rene Lisnard but eighth seed Sebastian Grosjean lost to Alberto Martin.
Agustin Calleri defeated Nicolas Escude, Nikolay Davydenko toppled Alex Corretja, Pavel downed Jonas Bjorkman and Fabrice Santoro defeated Taylor Dent.
MMIX
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