Tennis: Lleyton Hewitt will play Andy Roddick in a battle of the former world number ones in round two of the Australian Open. Hewitt raised the Melbourne Park crowd's spirits with a four-set win over Cedrik-Marcel Stebe on Tuesday night, showing his renowned fighting qualities to stave off a determined fightback from the German.
Hewitt, now 30 and in need of a wild card to play in the tournament this year, prevailed 7-5 6-4 3-6 7-5 to set up his meeting with Roddick, who had earlier eased past Robin Haase.
The Aussie fans had been left stunned by defeat for their leading women's hope Sam Stosur earlier in the day and at one point it looked as if Hewitt, the 2005 runner-up in Melbourne, might go the same way.
After establishing a two-set lead, Hewitt relinquished control and Stebe stormed back into the contest. He took the third set and then opened a 5-1 lead in the fourth. However, from that point it all went wrong for the 21-year-old as Hewitt, roared on by a packed Rod Laver Arena, reeled off six straight games.
Roddickdismissed Haasein straight sets, winning 6-3 6-4 6-1. The American is a four-time semi-finalist in Melbourne but never a finalist.
Seeded 15 this year, he looked comfortable enough and was pleased with his display, saying: "The serve was real good. I only missed a couple of returns. You know, it felt as clean as it does for a first round in a Slam."
Looking ahead to playing Hewitt, he predicted the match could turn into an epic.
Roddick said: "I think when we play, numbers go out the door as far as the number next to our name as far as ranking (is concerned).
"I don't pay much attention to it when it comes to Lleyton. He knows how to win tennis matches.
"He's a fighter. I have as much respect for him as I do for anybody in the game, how he goes about his business, how he competes, how professional he is.
"I've won the most recent meetings, but I think out of the six that I've won, four or five have gone the distance to the last set. We always have a bit of a war. I probably don't see it being any different."
Earlier, defending champion Novak Djokovicopened his challenge with a commanding 6-2 6-0 6-0 victory over Paolo Lorenzi. The Italian tested Djokovic as best he could, but the world number one was he secured his place in the second round in a comfortable 90 minutes.
There was the odd lapse in concentration, notably in the third game of the opening set when a double fault and a low volley into the net gifted Lorenzi the first break of the match.
However, Djokovic tightened his game to break Lorenzi three times on his way to claiming the first set and won 17 games in a row to seal victory.
A lengthy and powerful duel in the opening game of the second set left the crowd anticipating a baseline battle for dominance, and while Djokovic was stretched, it was never too far as he swept through the set 6-0, winning it with a perfect forehand down the line.
Lorenzi never gave in, but found no answers to Djokovic's commanding arsenal or silky drop shots, powerful baseline play and skilfully placed volleys.
"It's great to be back here in Melbourne where I have the nicest memories of my tennis experience," Djokovic said. "This is the grand slam I've won twice, I always play well here."
Djokovic came into the tournament following a holiday and without an official match under his belt in 2012, but there was little evidence of rustiness.
"I wanted to have that period of preparation to really get ready for the Australian Open," he added. "Physically I think I'm stronger, I'm improving things by small margins. It's something that gives me a lot of confidence."
Andy Murrayovercame a stuttering start to reach the second round with a four-set win over Ryan Harrison.The world number four was broken three times as he dropped the opening set on Hisense Arena against the highly-rated teenager.
However, Murray regrouped well to secure a 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory to keep the flag flying for Britain. And Murray praised Harrison afterwards, saying: "I remember when I was in that position when I was younger and there was no pressure on me. He came out and played some great tennis and I really had to dig in.
"He is one of the up-and-coming guys and I was expecting a tough match and that's what I got. I started to play better towards the end of the match, I had a few nerves at the start."
David Ferreralso cruised through to the second round with a comprehensive 6-1 6-4 6-2 win over Rui Machado.The fifth seed, a veteran of 37 consecutive grand slams and a semi-finalist last year at Melbourne Park, was never troubled by his rival from Portugal.
Ferrer broke Machado seven times in total en route to a straight-sets win.
Ninth seed Janko Tipsarevicwas given a fright by Dmitry Tursunov.
The Serb stormed up the rankings in 2011 to finish inside the world's top 10 but it didn't look that way early on.
Tursunov, now 29 and heading towards the end of his career, took the first set and had chances to claim the second only to miss several set points.
Tipsarevic crucially edged the second-set tie-break and went on to record a 5-7 7-6 (14/12) 6-3 6-4 victory.
One of the game's rising stars, Milos Raonicwon in straight sets, while Richard Gasquet(17), Kei Nishikori(24) and Alex Bogomolov Jr(32) were among the lower seeds to win.
However, number 29 Radek Stepanekwent down in straight sets to Nicolas Mahut.