Mixed fortunes for Hewitt, Stosur

Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt has recovered from a sluggish start to outplay Czech Jan Hernych at Roland Garros overnight and advance to the second round, while Samantha Stosur was not so fortunate as she was comprehensively ousted from the Paris event.

Entering the French Open under an injury cloud, Hewitt managed a 7-6(5) 3-6 6-2 6-0 win over his Czech opponent, easing himself one step closer to a fourth-round match against a player touted as the warm favourite to defend his Paris crown, Spanish second seed Rafael Nadal.

Australia’s former world No.1 was rusty early, falling behind 5-3 in the opening set tiebreak before winning the next four points to be a set up.

World No.96 Hernych broke the Australian’s serve twice in the second set to level the match, but that was as close as he would get to tasting victory as Hewitt ran away with the match in the third and fourth sets.

Hewitt, the No.14 seed in Paris, will be up against the local crowd when he faces Frenchman Mathieu Moncourt in the second round.

While Hewitt was in full stride, Australia’s other player in action on Tuesday, Stosur, was outclassed by in-form No.19 seed Ana Ivanovic.

A subdued Stosur could not find the heart to fight back from a demoralising opening set where she failed to make a dent in the Serbian’s game, losing 6-0 6-3 in a little over an hour.

The result was even tougher to swallow for the Australia’s world No.43, as she had defeated Ivanovic in the second round of the Australian Open in January.

In an eventful day in Paris, a number of big names became opening round losers. Marat Safin was the most notable casualty in the men’s draw, as he was out muscled by Chilean No.9 seed Fernando Gonzalez in four sets, while fifth-seeded American Andy Roddick retired after the first game of the third set of his match against Spain’s Alberto Martin after being down 6-4 7-5 1-0.

However, the biggest shock of the day came in the women’s draw when Japan’s Akiko Morigami comfortably beat the previously red-hot Russian No.3 seed Nadia Petrova 6-2 6-2.

Among the other winners on Tuesday were men’s fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic, popular Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, and talented German Tommy Haas, while Swiss Miss Martina Hingis, 2004 champion Anastasia Myskina, and two-time and defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne all had a successful start to their 2006 campaigns.

Wednesday will see the first matches of the second round be played, with the likes of Roger Federer, David Nalbandian, Amelie Mauresmo, Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams headlining the day’s action, while Australia’s lone female hope Alicia Molik will meet Anda Perianu for a spot in the third round.

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