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Lleyton Hewitt showed an excellent sense of timing by wrapping up his opening round match at the French Open as showers swept across Roland Garros.
Hewitt signed off on his 7-5 6-0 6-4 victory over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in two hours and six minutes as the rain started to fall heavily across centre court in Paris.
He was the sixth Australian to advance to the second round of the tournament with compatriots Anastasia Rodionova and Jarmila Groth also advancing on Tuesday.
Hewitt’s victory kept him on a collision course with clay supremo Rafael Nadal for the fourth time in the past five French Opens.
The South Australian produced an emphatic performance late in the day against the world No.46 on Court Philippe Chatrier, easily outpointing Chardy in front of his home fans.
Such was Hewitt’s dominance, the local fans barely had a chance to get behind their man.
“Today was a good win,” said Hewitt.
“I was ready for a tough match against a French guy here, who is on the rise.
“He has played extremely well and on this surface particularly here where there is a bit more bounce and pace I think that suits his game style a little better.
“It was going to be a tough draw so I will try to gain as much confidence from that as I can do.”
After being broken at 5-5 in the first set, Chardy admitted that he found it difficult to regather himself.
“I panicked,” he said via a translator.
“All of a sudden he felt it and he got the upper hand.
“On centre court, when you panic, it goes a lot faster than on any other court. So for a very long moment I had the impression I couldn’t hit any balls. I was panicking. It was like swirling and all the shots were difficult for me.”
Hewitt will play world No.74 Denis Istomin from Russia in the next round before his expected meeting with four-time champion Nadal.
Hewitt and Istomin have met once before at the 2008 Australian Open with Hewitt prevailing in four sets.
“Denis is a good ball striker and he moves well for a big guy,” Hewitt said.
“It is a pretty different match up to today’s match up but I will be ready for it in two days’ time.”
Rodionova will meet former compatriot Vera Zvonareva in the next round while Jarmila Groth will take on evergreen 39-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm.
The Japanese player is carrying a calf injury after limping her way to a dramatic three-set win over former world No.1 Dinara Safina with the Russian suffering her latest on-court meltdown.
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