Third seed Lleyton Hewitt fought back from the brink of defeat to beat rising Czech player Robin Vik 6-4, 2-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-3 in the first round of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Vik surprised an out-of-sorts Hewitt, mixing bold ground strokes with subtle drop shots to unsettle the world number six.
The Czech served for the match in the 12th game of the fourth set but Hewitt broke to force a tiebreak, which he won 7-4.
Hewitt called on his renowned fighting qualities to turn the course of the match and then raced away as 58th-ranked Vik wilted under the pressure, serving two double faults on the way to surrendering serve in the final game after almost four hours.
Hewitt's win sets up an intriguing second-round encounter with the equally feisty Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina. Chela was fined after spitting in Hewitt's direction during a fiery third round match in Melbourne last year.
CLIJSTERS BEATS CHO
Second seed Kim Clijsters shrugged off a break of serve in her first game to thrash South Korea's Cho Yoon-Jeong 6-3, 6-0 in the first round of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Clijsters, the U.S. Open champion, did not appear to be suffering any ill effects from the hip muscle injury that forced her out of last week's Sydney International to win in 58 minutes.
The world number two actually committed more errors than her South Korean opponent -- 28 to 24 -- but it was her powerful groundstrokes that sealed the match for her.
Clijsters made 25 clear winners to Cho's six and will meet either Hungary's Melinda Czink or China's Meng Yuan in the second round.
DAVYDENKO, CORIA RALLY
Fifth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko and Guillermo Coria came through tough five-set matches in the first round to advance in Melbourne.
Davydenko rallied from a set down to beat towering Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-5, 4-6, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Argentine sixth seed Guillermo Coria advanced to the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday with a hard-fought 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Victor Hanescu.
Coria overcame the distraction of a leg injury that required treatment after the fourth set to eventually wear down his Romanian opponent in an error-strewn match.
Karlovic fired 31 aces past a sometimes helpless Davydenko but the Russian held his composure as the errors started to creep into his opponent's game.
The Croat made 62 unforced errors, more than double Davydenko's tally, and won less than half his points when he failed to land his first serve.
Davydenko reached the quarter-finals of last year's Australian Open before retiring against American Andy Roddick with breathing problems and went on to reach the semi-finals of the French Open.
