Australia's Lleyton Hewitt celebrates after winning his match against Argentina's Gaston Gaudio in the French Open at Roland Garros yesterday.- Reuters

PARIS (Reuters):

HIS BACK creaks these days and his shots lack venom but Lleyton Hewitt proved again yesterday 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 U.S. 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.

"There's a lot of expectation and pressure but I'm trying not to think about it too much."

No ill effects

World number two 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 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 doublefaults 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.