World No.1 Lleyton Hewitt was forced into a dogfight against a determined Thomas Enqvist to steer Australia to a comfortable 2-0 lead in the Davis Cup tennis quarter-final against Sweden.

Hewitt beat Enqvist 6-4 6-2 5-7 6-4 after struggling to put the 87th-ranked Swede away in the final two sets.

After Mark Philippoussis got Australia off to a winning start with his 6-4 6-3 6-3 win over Swedish No.1 Jonas Bjorkman in the opening rubber, Hewitt appeared to be cruising to an easy straight sets win over Enqvist.

Hewitt took the first two sets 6-4 6-2 and coming out to serve the first game of the third set, the Swede appeared to be tiring, not even making an effort to reach some of Hewitt's shots.

But Hewitt made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes on his serve and Enqvist began to sniff an opportunity.

His own service game began to improve as he started winning games to love, before he got the break the Swedish crowd had waited all day for.

Hewitt broke back immediately, but Enqvist was not deterred, sending Hewitt racing all over the court and peppering him with winning returns before finally breaking again to take the third set 7-5 and force the match to a fourth.

From the start, Hewitt looked set for a quick victory, breaking Enqvist in the first game and then saving two break points to hold serve for a 2-0 lead.

But the Swede broke again and fought determinedly until Hewitt broke his serve to take a 5-4 lead and served out for the fourth set.

Play resumes this evening Australian time with Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs taking on Bjorkman and Enqvist in the doubles rubber.

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