Hewitt keeps up the chase

Tennis/French Open: You look for reasons to like Lleyton Hewitt and pretty soon you come up empty-handed. When you try to fathom why it is he is one of the biggest draws in the game, why he is eminently watchable and so successful, you don't embrace his personality but you come out respecting his tennis. That comes easily. Hewitt cares a damn. Johnny Watterson at Roland Garros reports

For every ball, point, game and set Hewitt will bite and scratch in defending his patch. If he needs to take on the umpire so be it: the chair receives some choice Australian abuse.

If the crowd turn on him, his energy levels go up. He feeds on the vitriol and aggression. He gets high on it. You may not like him but if you were in the trenches and preparing to go over the top, Hewitt is the fighter you'd want at your side.

Half gouger and lion-hearted, he came through his third-round match yesterday against Austria's Jurgen Melzer, 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

More good news arrived for him later when last year's winner, the injured Juan Carlos Ferrero, who is in Hewitt's end of the draw, departed in three sets, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.

In the best shape of his clay-court career this year, Hewitt has played and won more tournament matches during the lead-up to Roland Garros than at any point in his career. He's played 14 and won nine.

This is also the most difficult Grand Slam of the four for the 23-year-old. With no huge serve or obvious weapon, his prowess comes from chasing down balls and getting them back with pace.

If Roger Federer is the master architect of the court, then Hewitt is slash and burn. Those two players won't meet unless both advance to the semi-finals but one familiar face Hewitt will now face is that of Martin Verkerk, who also made it through his second-round match yesterday.

Verkerk is the journeyman who last year pounded his way to the French Open final before Juan Carlos Ferrero finally found him out. At six feet five inches, he has six inches on Hewitt as well as an interesting line or two in his curriculum vitae.

Last year's heroics made him the first Dutchman in history to make it to the final of Roland Garros and only the third player in the open era (1968) to do so on his debut.

Since then, however, Verkerk has not advanced past the second round of any of the Grand Slams. From being anonymous last year, he is now a well-known quantity, a dangerous player but one with obvious limitations after his big serve has been discharged.

Hewitt appears in good enough shape to send it back.

"Yeah, I played Martin last week in Dusseldorf, had a very tough match with him, (won) 7-5 in the third. He likes playing at this place," said Hewitt.

"I'm sure he's got good feelings about coming here. I played him in Sydney on hard court but I think he's a lot better on clay."

Against Meltzer, who mixed up his game well yesterday, Hewitt was only occasionally troubled, largely with the left-handed serve.

A two-set lead turned nasty in the third, with Hewitt dropping his serve, but he responded in the fourth set with a typical fire-and-brimstone reply to finish the match.

"I feel I felt better than I did in the first-round match. It was very good to get that first set under my belt, good to come back from 4-2 down in that first set," he said.

Like Michael Chang, who won here before without the aid of a massive game, Hewitt believes he can win a title on clay.

"I think Michael was obviously an exceptional player. I think the game has changed a little bit, with the power and that.

"Yeah, I don't think with my style of game I can be totally counted out. But I think there are a lot more specialist clay-court specialists these days that are probably the favourites to win here. "

Elsewhere, Ferrero departed from the competition to Russia's Igor Andreev. The fourth seed would probably have taken care of things more readily had he not been suffering from a rib injury that had him doubtful for even taking part in the tournament. Ferrero damaged himself in a fall before playing his first match.

Andreev, one of the fastest-rising players in the game, jumped 196 places last year.

Federer, very much a specialist on all surfaces, defeated Nicolas Kiefer with little fuss and considerable haste.

Racing to a two-set lead, the Swiss top seed stuttered a little in the third set but still wrapped it up in two and a half hours.

So far 17 seeds have fallen in the singles draw.

FrenchOpenResults

MEN'S SINGLES: Second round: Hyung Taik Lee (Kor) bt Olivier Patience (Fra) 6-4 6-4 6-3, (26) Albert Costa (Spa) bt Christophe Rochus (Bel) 6-1 6-2 7-5, Xavier Malisse (Bel) bt Daniel Elsner (Ger) 6-3 4-0 ret, (12) Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 6-4 6-4 4-6 6-2, (23) Feliciano Lopez (Spa) bt Karol Kucera (Svk) 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-4 6-4, (1) Roger Federer (Swi) bt Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) 6-3 6-4 7-6 (8-6), Julien Benneteau (Fra) bt David Ferrer (Spa) 6-3 1-6 6-2 7-5, (28) Gustavo Kuerten (Bra) bt Gilles Elseneer (Bel) 6-2 6-0 6-3, (19) Martin Verkerk (Ned) bt Victor Hanescu (Rom) 4-6 6-3 3-6 6-0 3-0 ret, Stefan Koubek (Aut) bt (25) Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) 6-0 1-6 6-4 6-2, Potito Starace (Ita) bt (10) Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 6-4 Igor Andreev (Rus) bt (4) Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa) 6-4 6-2 6-3, Gaston Gaudio (Arg) bt (14) Jiri Novak (Cze) 2-6 6-4 6-4 5-7 6-3, (8) David Nalbandian (Arg) bt Alejandro Falla (Col) 5-7 6-0 6-2 6-0, Igor Andreev (Rus) bt (4) Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa) 6-4 6-2 6-3, Thomas Enqvist (Swe) bt (24) Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) 6-3 3-6 7-6 (10-8) 6-3, Felix Mantilla (Spa) is tied with (20) Marat Safin (Rus) 4-6 6-2 2-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-7 (match suspended).

WOMEN'S SINGLES: Second round: (7) Jennifer Capriati (USA) bt Kveta Pesche (Cze) 7-5 6-3, Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) bt Shenay Perry (USA) 6-4 6-3, (22) Myriam Casanova (Swi) bt Maria Vento-Kabchi (Ven) 6-4 2-6 6-3, (17) Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt Virginie Razzano (Fra) 6-1 4-6 6-3, Shinobu Asagoe (Jpn) bt (16) Patty Schnyder (Swi) 7-5 3-6 6-4, Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spa) bt (12) Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-1, Denisa Chladkova (Cze) bt (29) Petra Mandula (Hun) 6-2 6-3, (30) Mary Pierce (Fra) bt Gala Leon Garcia (Spa) 6-1 6-1, Silvija Talaja (Cro) bt Stephanie Foretz (Fra) 2-6 7-6 (10-8) 6-2, (23) Fabiola Zuluaga (Col) bt Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) 7-5 5-7 6-1, (4) Venus Williams (USA) bt Jelena Kostanic (Cro) 6-3 6-3, (11) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Barbara Rittner (Ger) 6-1 6-4, (6) Anastasia Myskina (Rus) bt Barbora Strycova (Cze) 6-0 6-4, (25) Elena Bovina (Rus) bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger) 3-2 ret, Gisela Dulko (Arg) bt (20) Conchita Martinez (Spa) 6-4 7-5, (2) Serena Williams (USA) bt Maria Kirilenko (Rus) 4-6 6-2 6-4.