Hewitt survives five-set marathon

Steve Keating

Sixth seed Lleyton Hewitt completed the biggest comeback of his career on Monday to clinch a 3-6, 6-7, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Argentine Guillermo Canas and reach the French Open quarter-finals.

And the Australian admitted he would have to produce something equally special to beat in-form Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero in the last eight.

Fourth seed Ferrero, in contrast, crushed Swedish 14th seed Thomas Enqvist 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

The fiery Hewitt, who has developed a reputation as one of the sport's grittiest competitors, needed all his determination against Canas, battling back from two sets down for the first time in his career in a match that started on Sunday.

"It's a strange situation coming out and on my first service game of the day all of a sudden I'm serving for the match in the fifth set," Hewitt said.

"It was a weird feeling, we had such a dogfight out there yesterday for nearly four hours.

"To come back out it's like a 100-metre sprint to the finish. That's a tough situation."

Hewitt fought back against the Argentine claycourter in the Paris twilight on Sunday to level the match at two sets apiece and take a 4-2 lead in the fifth before the match was stopped because of poor light.

BRILLIANT SUNSHINE

The two players returned to a Suzanne Lenglen court bathed brilliant sunshine, and Hewitt immediately broke Canas.

But the 82nd-ranked Argentine, who beat 11th seed Tim Henman in the last round, refused to fold, fighting off three match points and breaking back to stay in the contest.

Canas saved another match point on his own serve but could not deny Hewitt, who clinched victory on his fifth match point.

After losing the second set in a tiebreak 7-3, Hewitt stepped up the pressure to record an early break in each of the next three sets.

"At 2-0 down I had to dig deep to level the match last night," Hewitt said. "It was important to get on top of him early in the third set. I got a bit fortunate and got the break early in the third, fourth and the fifth. I was able to capitalise straightaway.

"I knew we weren't going to finish the match last night the way it was going, it was getting extremely dark out there.

"I went for a couple of bombs at 15-30 down in that last game and it paid off."

The 82nd-ranked Argentine represented the first serious test of the fortnight for the 20-year-old Hewitt, who had faced wild card Paul-Henri Mathieu in the opening round, qualifier Nicolai Davydenko and hard-hitting American Andy Roddick, who retired injured during their third-round clash.

But the Australian can expect an even sterner test in the quarter-finals when he clashes with Ferrero, who has cruised into the last eight, dropping just one set along the way.

DAVIS CUP

Hewitt will not lack for motivation, having lost to Ferrero in the deciding match of last year's Davis Cup final.

Certainly he cannot afford to go two sets down to the Spaniard as he did in Barcelona.

"It obviously hurt in Barcelona to lose the last match of the Davis Cup final," said Hewitt, who is seeking to become the first Australian to win the French Open since Rod Laver in 1969.

"There's not too many worse feelings in tennis than that. I gave him a two set to love start as and that's something I'm going to try and work on tomorrow.

"I give myself an outside chance but I play Juan Carlos next and he's dynamite right now. I consider him the co-favourite with (Gustavo) Kuerten."

"He hits the ball hard, especially at the moment, he's got his confidence going. I think he feels he's just about unbeatable out there."