Hewitt, ranked 42, in action against Robin Soderling in Cincinnati

Lleyton Hewitt saved two match points before beating Swedish 12th seed Robin Soderling 3-6 7-6 6-4 in round one of the Cincinnati Masters.

Soderling was a point from victory at 6-5 and 8-7 in the second set tie break but the unseeded Australian hit back and broke early in the decider.

Hewitt said: "It was a very high standard match. He's the kind of guy who is going to hit a lot of winners.

"You have got to make him play that one extra shot a lot of times."

Germany's Tommy Haas was a surprise 7-6 5-7 7-6 loser to American John Isner.

Fernando Gonzalez, seeded 10, retired after losing the first set 6-4 to Czech Tomas Berdych, while 11th seed Fernando Verdasco was beaten 7-6 7-6 by fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

606: DEBATE Who's in the best form ahead of the US Open?

Italy's Andreas Seppi booked a clash with Spain's Rafael Nadal with a 3-6 6-4 6-1 defeat of Czech Jan Hernych, while Russian Igor Kunitsyn upset American James Blake 7-6 6-7 6-4.

In the second round, Croatian 14th seed Marin Cilic was beaten 7-6 6-2 by David Ferrer of Spain and ninth seed Gilles Simon, who has been suffering with a knee problem, defeated Igor Andreev 7-6 6-7 6-1 after two hours, 20 minutes.

Simon said: "I can't run as usual, which is frustrating because I like to feel it is going to be hard for my opponent to win a point."

The top eight seeds received first-round byes and Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Nadal will all be in action on Wednesday.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version