Hewitt hangs on to fight another day

PARIS, JUNE 4. Sixth seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia completed the biggest comeback of his career to clinch a 3-6, 6-7, 6-2, 6- 3, 6-3 victory over Argentine Guillermo Canas and reach the last eight of the French Open at Roland Garros on Monday.

In a match held over from Sunday because of poor light, Hewitt needed just three games on a sun-baked court Suzanne Lenglen to book a meeting with Spanish fourth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Later, France drew first blood against Spain at Roland Garros today as 10th seed Sebastien Grosjean beat Galo Blanco 6- 3, 6-4, 6-1 to move into the quarterfinals.

Grosjean, in his fifth Roland Garros campaign, took the first two sets in 92 minutes and raced into a 4-0 lead with two breaks in the third. Blanco, who beat fifth seed Pete Sampras in the second round and was enjoying his best French open since reaching the 1997 quarterfinals, briefly held up the Grosjean charge, but the home favourite duly completed a comfortable win.

Grosjean will next face the winner of the match between third seed Andre Agassi and number 16 Franco Squillari. ``At the end of the second set I think he kind of gave up, so I quickly found myself two breaks up and the end of the match was a formality,'' said Grosjean, who had never previously been beyond the third round at Roland Garros. ''My goal is to make it to the (end of season) Masters and to do that you have to play well in the Grand Slams.''

The fiery Hewitt, who has developed a reputation as one of the sport's grittiest competitors, needed all his determination against Canas, battling back from two sets down for the first time in his career.

``It's a strange situation coming out and on my first service game of the day all of a sudden I'm serving for the match in the fifth set,'' Hewitt said. ''It was a weird feeling, we had such a dog-fight out there yesterday for nearly four hours. To come back out it's like a 100-metre sprint to the finish. That's a tough situation.``

Hewitt fought back against the Argentine claycourter in the Paris twilight on Sunday to level the match at two sets apiece and take a 4-2 lead in the fifth before the match was halted. Hewitt immediately broke Canas when the match resumed, but the 82nd- ranked Argentine, who beat 11th seed Tim Henman in the last round, refused to fold, fighting off three match points and breaking back to stay in the contest.

Canas saved another match point on his own serve but could not deny Hewitt, who clinched victory on his fifth match point and admitted he would have to produce something special again to beat in-form Ferrero.

''I give myself an outside chance but I play Juan Carlos next and he's dynamite right now. I consider him the co- favourite with (Gustavo) Kuerten,'' Hewitt said. ``He hits the ball hard, especially at the moment, he's got his confidence going. I think he feels he's just about unbeatable out there.''

Ferrero squashes Enqvist

Meanwhile on Sunday, Ferrero destroyed Swedish 14th seed Thomas Enqvist 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 to stroll into the last eight. Ferrero had reached the semifinals here last year on his tournament debut.

Clijsters battles through

Belgian 12th seed Kim Clijsters battled through to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Slovakian Henrieta Nagyova. Clijsters will play Petra Mandula of Hungary for a place in the last four. Mandula defeated Italian Rita Grande 6-2, 6-3.

Clijsters, who will be 18 on Friday, had never previously been beyond the first round at Roland Garros. After winning the first set, she was pegged back by Nagyova, the world No. 33, but the Belgian was too strong in the decider, sealing victory by serving out to love.

Also through to the last eight was Italian world No. 53, Francesca Schiavone who defeated Cara Black of Zimbabwe 7-6 (7- 2), 6-1. Later, sixth seed Serena Williams overwhelmed Russian Nadia Petrova 6-3, 6-1 to complete the French Open quarterfinal lineup.

The American was far too strong for her fellow 19-year- old, thumping a forehand return winner on her first match point to seal victory in only 69 minutes.

Williams next faces her compatriot and fourth seed Jennifer Capriati. The Australian Open champion moved on with a 7-5, 6-1 win over fellow-American 16 seed Maghann Shaughnessy. The fourth- seeded Capriati, bidding to become the first player since Monica Seles in 1992 to add the French Open title to that from Melbourne earlier this year, won nine of the last 10 games from 5-4 down in the opening set for victory.

The results:

Men's singles (fourth round) 6-Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt Guillermo Canas (Arg) 3-6, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-3, 6-3; 4-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp) bt 14-Thomas Enqvist (Swe) 6-2, 6-4, 6-2; 10-Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) bt Galo Blanco (Esp) 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.

Women's singles (fourth round): 4- Jennifer Capriati (U.S.) bt 16-Meghann Shaughnessy (U.S.) 7-5, 6- 1; 12-Kim Clijsters (Bel) bt Henrieta Nagyova (Svk) 6-4, 4-6, 6- 3; Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt Cara Black (Zim) 7-6 (7/2), 6-1; 6-Serena Williams (U.S.) bt Nadia Petrova (Rus) 6-3, 6-1; Petra Mandula (Hun) bt Rita Grande (Ita) 6-2, 6-3;

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