Men's round-up
Hewitt was visibly relieved after the win |
Top seed Lleyton Hewitt needed all of his fighting qualities to see off the challenge of Nicolay Davydenko and reach the third round.
The Australian appeared to have the match under control early on but lost his concentration in the second set to allow the 21-year-old Russian back into the contest.
Such was Hewitt's frustration that he was handed a warning for an audible obscenity - and appeared fortunate to escape a point penalty as his temper boiled over on a number of occasions.
And the nerves crept in again as Hewitt was attempting to close out the match, the Australian wasting three match points on his serve in the fourth set.
Davydenko forced a tiebreak and raced into a 4-1 lead but Hewitt dug deep to triumph 6-3 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-5) and set up a meeting with Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman or Tommy Robredo.
"I'm just relieved to be in the third round. Happy to get out of it in four sets instead of five," Hewitt said.
"I am not one of the hot favourites for the title like the Spanish guys and the Argentines, but I am happy to be at the back of the pack."
Defending champion Albert Costa was another big name made to work hard on his way into round three.
The Spaniard played his second five-set match in three days as he held off Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-3 5-7 6-4 3-6 6-4.
Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian suffered a shock defeat at the hands of French qualifier Nicolas Coutelot.
The Argentine looked set to be beaten in straight sets before clawing his way back to two sets all but Coutelot overran the eighth seed in the decider to seal an epic 6-3 6-3 4-6 2-6 6-1 win.
Nalbandian reacted angrily to his defeat and shortly after shaking hands, he and Coutelot appeared to have a heated exchange at the net.
"He broke three rackets today and didn't have a warning, or a penalty point," Coutelot said later.
"I went to the umpire because it's a rule. It's true that in tournaments they don't always follow rules the same way."
French number one Sebastien Grosjean was another seed to go out, falling 7-6 6-3 6-3 to Spain's Fernando Vicente.
Elsewhere, three-times French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten put in a faultless performance on Thursday to thrash Hicham Arazi 6-1 6-0 6-1.
The Brazilian needed just 82 minutes to complete the annihilation of Arazi, who won just 45 points, on the Suzanne Lenglen court.
Juan Carlos Ferrero was handed an easy passage into the third round when his opponent, Nicolas Massu, retired midway through the second set of their match.
Massu, who injured his ankle during his first-round win over Swede Magnus Norman, received treatment throughout the encounter.
The Chilean finally called it quits when it became clear that third seed Ferrero, who was runner-up to Albert Costa last year, was running away with the match.
The Spaniard, a favourite to take the title, will play Tim Henman after the Briton beat Todd Martin 7-6 5-7 6-1 7-5.
There was disappointment for 24th seed James Blake who was ousted by Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 3-6 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 4-6 in a match which was halted on Wednesday night due to bad light.
MMIX
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