Australia's Lleyton Hewitt staged a sensational comeback recovering from a set down and saving a match point to beat Argentina's Gaston Gaudio 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 to reach the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters.

The fiesty 16th seed, known throughout the sport for his never-say-die spirit, called on all of his fighting qualities to keep his hopes of the title alive.

"I was a little bit lucky but I just hung in there because he hardly made an error in the first set," said Hewitt who finished the 2hr 20min match with 28 winners against 52 unforced errors.

He had lost his last meeting to Gaudio in Barcelona on clay two years ago and this match seemed to be heading the same way especially when he slipped to 3-0 down in the second set.

He had already been broken twice in the opening set in the fourth and sixth games before he hit a lazy backhand to give his 25-year-old opponent the set after only 30 minutes.

But in the second, the fightback began.

Hewitt battled back to 3-1 and then was handed a warning for swearing in the sixth game but he was fired up levelling the set at 5-5 when Gaudio was serving for the match.

He was immediately broken again to let Gaudio lead to 6-5, but Hewitt stood firm, battled back to save a match point before taking the tie-break.

Gaudio's game fell apart in the final set with the Australian storming to a 4-0 lead and then taking the match when Gaudio netted a return.

Hewitt, who has enjoyed famous clay court wins in the Davis Cup over Gustavo Kuerten and Albert Costa in the past, will now take on either fourth seeded German Rainer Schuettler or French qualifier Jean-Rene Lisnard in the next round.

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