Tennis

Hewitt, Nadal advance at French Open

(AP)
Updated: 2007-06-01 09:10

PARIS - Lleyton Hewitt rallied from two sets down for the fourth time in his career Thursday and beat 2004 champion Gaston Gaudio 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the French Open.

Spain's Rafael Nadal hits a return to Italy's Flavio Cipolla during their match in the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, May 31, 2007. [Reuters]

Hewitt, a two-time Grand Slam champion, missed two months because of a back injury and returned at the Rome Masters in early May. He broke his Argentine opponent in the third and seventh games of the third set, and then again to open each of the two remaining sets.

"He's got to be one of the toughest second-round players to play," said Hewitt, who lost to Gaudio in the 2004 French Open quarterfinals. "The first two sets he played fantastic."

Two-time defending champion Rafael Nadal also advanced, extending his record at Roland Garros to 16-0. Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Amelie Mauresmo and Svetlana Kuznetsova won in the women's draw.

Hewitt made 25 unforced errors in the first two sets, but limited that to 19 in the final three. He also had 20 aces, while Gaudio double-faulted 13 times.

"I felt like I had a lot of opportunities to go up a break in the first set," Hewitt said.

The 14th-seeded Australian stayed on course for a fourth-round rematch with Nadal, who wasted little time in beating Flavio Cipolla of Italy 6-2, 6-1, 6-4. Hewitt lost to the second-ranked Spaniard at the same stage last year.

Hewitt has won the U.S. Open and Wimbledon and reached the final at the Australian Open. He has made the quarterfinals twice at the French Open, the last time losing to eventual champion Gaudio in 2004.

Gaudio, who had reached the third round in Paris for five straight years, has won consecutive matches this year only once.

Nadal broke Cipolla seven times while losing his own serve twice — once in the third set.

"At the beginning he was a bit nervous. He would make mistakes," Nadal said. "Third set was a bit more disputed."

Sharapova, who missed nearly two months of the season because of an injured right shoulder, reached the third round in the women's draw, easily beating Jill Craybas of the United States 6-2, 6-1.

"I feel it at times in the match," Sharapova said. "I try not to think about it."

Up 2-1 at the start, Craybas held three break points at love-40. But Sharapova won the next 11 points, holding serve with the help of three forehand winners in a row, then breaking Craybas at love when the American dumped a volley into the net with the entire court open.

In the second set, Craybas broke the second-ranked Russian in the sixth game, smiling and raising her hands after the winning point to accept the crowd's applause. But Sharapova broke right back to advance.

The eighth-seeded Williams raced through the first set but was stretched in the second against Milagros Sequera, finally winning 6-0, 7-6 (3).

"I don't think I played my best throughout the whole match," said Williams, who won the Australian Open in January. "Just wasn't feeling that great."

Mauresmo, seeded fifth, struggled through the second set before beating Nathalie Dechy 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-1.

Dechy led 4-1 in the second set, and broke Mauresmo to open the third — shortly after returning from a rain delay that lasted nearly two hours. But the fourth-ranked Frenchwoman won the final six games to reach the third round.

The rain delay "was good for me because I came back much better," said Mauresmo, who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon last year.

No. 3 Kuznetsova trailed 5-0 before rallying to beat Meghann Shaughnessy 7-6 (4), 6-3.

No. 7 Ana Ivanovic defeated Sania Mirza 6-1, 6-4. No. 9 Anna Chakvetadze, No. 14 Patty Schnyder, No. 15 Shahar Peer, No. 17 Katarina Srebotnik, No. 21 Ai Sugiyama, No. 24 Anabel Medina Garrigues and No. 25 Lucie Safarova also advanced, but No. 22 Alona Bondarenko, No. 29 Gisela Dulko and No. 32 Martina Mueller lost.

On the men's side, No. 6 Novak Djokovic reached the third round, beating Laurent Recouderc of France 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. No. 16 Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open finalist, No. 7 Ivan Ljubicic, No. 12 David Ferrer, No. 20 Jarkko Nieminen and No. 23 Carlos Moya also won. No. 21 Dmitry Tursunov and No. 28 Philipp Kohlschreiber lost.

"Everybody now expects me to be the guy who can hurt the best two players in the world," said Djokovic, who has won three titles this year — including one on clay.