Lleyton Hewitt has come within a handful of points of a humiliating first-round defeat at the hands of the world's most improved player at the Australian Open.

In a match that seemed to have slipped from Hewitt's grasp at the end of the third set, the flagbearer of Australian tennis dragged himself back into contention and then outlasted Czech Robin Vik.

Hewitt won 6-4 2-6 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 6-3.

"I would have probably collapsed if I was going to lose today," Hewitt said.

"I just tried hanging in there and waiting for my opportunities... I just bided my time and ended up breaking, but it was awfully close."

For much of the match it appeared those opportunities would never come.

No amount of Hewitt's famous fist-pumping and screams of "C'mon" affected Vik, who improved 350 places in the rankings last year to come into the Open as No.57 in the world.

On a day when fellow Australians Nathan Healey, Peter Luczak and Sam Stosur stemmed the flow of defeats for Australia, Hewitt was on the verge of providing the upset of the tournament - much as he had four years ago when as world No.1 he lost in the first round.

After dropping the opening set, Vik's confidence grew with every shot.

When he levelled the match in the second set, the crowd that had been so solidly behind Hewitt was shocked into silence as Vik reeled off point after point.

Displaying incredible touch, the Czech repeatedly left one of the fastest players in the game stranded as he slid drop shots over the net.

For Hewitt the match looked over when he double-faulted to give his opponent a service break in the 11th game of the fourth set, placing the momentum solidly behind Vik who stepped up to serve for the match at 6-5.

But Hewitt mustered resolve and nerve in equal measure to deny Vik a single point on his serve and level the score at 6-6.

The Australian duly won the tiebreak 7-4 after again falling behind.

They swapped breaks early in the fifth before settling down to slog it out, a situation in which Hewitt proved the master.

The bad news is that in the next round he plays Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina, a player who took him to four sets in the third round here last year.

At the other end of the draw, top seed Roger Federer made a more routine progression into the second round, dealing swiftly and surely with Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-2 6-3 6-2.

As easily as the world No.1 disposed of Istomin, he gave the impression he needed to be pushed a little more if he was to move on to the level required to win a seventh grand slam title.

Federer has a way of appearing disdainful and bored as he waits between points.

Then the ball appears, instinct takes over and he swats a perfect winner.

Against Istomin, that scene was repeated throughout the match.

Federer said the match had been useful for getting him used to the court, which he, like Hewitt, thought was surprisingly lacking in speed.

Hewitt complained last year that the court suited him less than it did the other top players and he repeated his concerns this year.

"It is a little unexpected after Lleyton already said something last year," Federer said.

"I thought they might speed up the courts a little bit."

All the higher seeds with the exception of Richard Gasquet (14th) of France made it through to the second round.

Of the lower group, only Gael Monfils (22nd) of France and Filippo Volandri (29th) failed to make it to the second round.

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