Lleyton Hewitt likes nothing more than a dogfight, and that's exactly what he got against 2004 champion Gaston Gaudio in their French Open second round match.

A trademark performance full grit and unfailing self-belief allowed the Australian No.14 seed to come back from two-sets-to-love down to beat the Argentine 4-6 3-6 6-2 6-4 6-2 in a match lasting nearly three and a half hours.

In doing so, Hewitt set up a third-round meeting with Finnish No.20 seed Jarkko Nieminen, who had a much easier time of his second-round match, beating Frenchman Mathieu Montcourt in straight sets.

Hewitt remained on track to meet No.2 seed Rafael Nadal, the clay-court supremo who should be waiting in the fourth round if results go as expected.

Gaudio, another clay-court specialist, put his stamp on the match early.

The world No.72 broke Hewitt to take a 5-4 lead and claimed the opener on his own serve with a smash.

Gaudio kept his momentum going, breaking Hewitt in the opening game of the second set when the Australian hit a backhand wide and the Argentine rolled on to his two-set lead.

It was not until the third game of the third set that Hewitt dragged himself back into the match when Gaudio handed him a break with a double fault.

It was all he needed to spark a remarkable resurgence.

The 26-year-old baseliner converted the second of two break points against Gaudio in the seventh game with a sharp return and Hewitt closed out the set with a backhand that sailed past his opponent.

Two double faults by Gaudio in the opening game of the fourth set gave Hewitt an early break.

The Australian's famed calls of "C'mon!" had barely been audible to that point, but when he saved break point in the second game, the volume increased markedly.

When he went 40-15 up in the ninth game he told himself: "That's it, that's it!" before firing an ace, one of 20 produced by the Australian in the match.

Hewitt sent down another bullet at 205 km/h for set point and levelled at two sets all with a forehand down the line.

He broke the former world No.5 in the opening game of the decider and won his next service game to love with yet another ace.

The Australian broke his opponent again in the fifth game and Gaudio could not buy a point, despite maintaining some excellent court coverage at a stage of the match where his legs could have been forgiven for flagging.

Hewitt again won his service game to love before serving for the match.

He took three match points with an ace and converted the first when Gaudio sent a forehand long.

Hewitt went into the match knowing Gaudio could pose a serious challenge and acknowledged his opponent's skill after the match.

"He's one of the toughest second-round players to play," Hewitt.

"The first two sets he played fantastic.

"I don't feel like I played that poorly out there, I just had to find a way to turn things around in the third set.

"I felt like I had a lot of opportunities to go up a break in the first set and I wasn't able to get there.

"He's such a great shot maker that you don't know what he's going to come up with."

But Hewitt did not feel the length and difficulty of the match would have an adverse affect on him in the next round.

"I felt like I out-lasted him out there today and I feel better for the run," he said.

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