Third-seeded Lleyton Hewitt survived a tough first round encounter with unseeded Czech Robin Vik at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Tuesday. Hewitt was on the verge of exiting the tournament after falling behind two breaks in the fourth set. Hewitt struck back to clinch the tiebreak forcing the match into a decider before finally claiming a hard fought 6-4, 2-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 victory. The 24-year-old Aussie next takes on Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela who ousted Britain's Andy Murray 6-1, 6-3, 6-3. Hewitt was not the only seed to struggle in the first round, as fifth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko and sixth-seeded Guillermo Coria also endured thrilling five-setters before they booked their second round spots.
World number one Roger Federer Davydenko battled past strong serving Croatian, Ivo Karlovic 7-5, 4-6, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 while Coria overcame Romania's Victor Hanescu 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 6 -2, 6-1. Davydenko meets American Kevin Kim in the second round while Coria clashes with Federico Luzzi of Italy. French seeds were not so lucky on Tuesday, as 14th-seeded Richard Gasquet and 22nd-seeded Gael Monfils suffered major straight-sets upsets, by in-form German Tommy Haas and Peruvian Luis Horna respectively. Meanwhile, world number one Roger Federer advanced to the second round in sublime fashion as he eased past unseeded Uzbek 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 and will next face Germany's Florian Mayer. Other seeded winners on included 12th-seeded Dominik Hrbaty, 21st-seeded Nicolas Kiefer, 23rd-seeded Igor Andreev and 24th-seeded Olivier Rochus.
