Lleyton Hewitt’s 16th straight Wimbledon campaign has opened with a hard-fought four-set win over Poland’s Michal Przysiezny.
Losing a marathon second-set tiebreak was the only blemish for the veteran Australian in a 6-2 6-7 (16-14) 6-1 6-4 victory on Tuesday.
The 2002 champion set up a second-round showdown against either another Pole, 15th seed Jerzy Janowicz.
World No.48 Hewitt became the seventh Australian through to the second round, making it the nation’s best start at Wimbledon since 1999.
In what could be his final campaign at the All England Club, the 33-year-old made a superb start against 120th-ranked Przysiezny.
He raced to a 4-0 lead and wrapped up the first set in just 27 minutes.
Hewitt fought back from a 3-0 deficit in the second, only to lose an epic tiebreak battle.
The Australian failed to convert seven set points before double faulting to hand Przysiezny the set at his fourth opportunity.
Hewitt’s frustration spilled over into screams at times, yelling: “Are you for real? What do you want me to do?” after losing one point and “so slippery, these shoes!” following another.
The third set was one-way traffic Hewitt’s way and the Australian broke twice in the fourth set to secure victory in three hours and two minutes.
Hewitt will need to string back-to-back wins together for the first time since claiming the ATP title in Brisbane in January if he is to reach the third round.
He joins Bernard Tomic, Marinko Matosevic, Nick Kyrgios, Luke Saville, Casey Dellacqua and Jarmila Gajdosova as a first-round winner, ensuring the nation’s largest second-round presence since 10 Australians reached round two in 1999.
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