Lleyton Hewitt and Anastasia Myskina, two players with plenty to prove at the French Open, moved into the third round on Thursday.
Hewitt, the former world number one, overcame a difficult first set before seeing off French wildcard Mathieu Montcourt 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 and now faces Slovakian 22nd seed Dominik Hrbaty for a place in the last 16.
The 25-year-old Hewitt, who played his first clay court match in two years in Austria last week, lost in the first round and suffered an ankle injury.
But after saving a set point in the 10th game on Thursday, Hewitt was never really troubled by an opponent ranked 213 in the world and who was playing in his first tour event.
”It was a tough first set,” said Hewitt. ”I knew nothing about him before the match so it took time to work him out. But once I got the first set under my belt, I got better as the match went on.”
Hewitt admitted, however, that his ankle was still causing him problems.
”It’s not 100% but I’m getting through and doing all I need. I’ve played with pain before and a week ago I wasn’t sure I would be able to play at all.”
Myskina, the 2004 winner who suffered the embarrassment of becoming the first defending women’s champion to be knocked out in the first round 12 months later, eased past Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-2, 6-4.
The Russian tenth seed now takes on Serbian 19th seed Ana Ivanovic, who beat Emilie Loit of France 6-1, 6-1 for a place in the fourth round.
Ivanovic reached the quarterfinals here in 2005, accounting for Amelie Mauresmo in the process.
”It will be a pretty tough match,” said Myskina. ”She’s a great player and she hits the ball very hard.”
The 18-year-old Ivanovic believes she has to take the game to Myskina is she is to have any chance. ”I have to make her adapt to my game and not the other way round,” she said.
Daniela Hantuchova, the Slovakian 15th seed, defeated Emmanuelle Gagliardi of Switzerland 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to make the last 32.
Also going through in early action on Thursday were Czech 11th seed Radek Stepanek, the runner-up at the Hamburg Masters two weeks ago, who beat Davide Sanguinetti of Italy 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.
Olivier Rochus of Belgium, the 27th seed, saw off Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-0, 6-2.
He will face Spain’s Alberto Martin, the conqueror of Andy Roddick, for a place in the last 16. Martin beat Dieter Kindlmann of Germany 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Tommy Robredo, the Spanish seventh seed, also went through, beating Serbian qualifier Ilia Bozoljac 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 and now faces Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic.
Britain’s interest in the tournament ended when Tim Henman was knocked out by Russian 31st seed Dmitry Tursunov. Henman went down 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in a match held over from Wednesday.
It was his third successive loss to Tursunov in the last three Grand Slam tournaments.
Later on Thursday, both defending champions are in action with Spain’s Rafael Nadal, the second seed, facing American lucky loser Kevin Kim while Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, seeded five, takes on Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus. — AFP
