Feisty Australian Lleyton Hewitt came close to another miracle escape at the Monte Carlo Masters on Thursday before going down to a third round 6-4 3-6 6-4 defeat to German fourth seed Rainer Schuettler.

Hewitt, seeded 14, had come from a set down in the first round to beat France's Julien Benneteau.

He repeated the escape act, as well as saving two match points, against Gaston Gaudio of Argentina in the second round before finally coming up short against the German.

"At the start of the third set, I probably lost a little sharpness," said Hewitt.

"I didn't have high hopes coming here but I'm getting used to the surface."

However, he will believe it was a match he should have won.

After levelling the match at one set each, Hewitt led 3-0 in the final set before Schuettler mounted his winning recovery after a pulsating 2hr 23min on court.

Having exchanged breaks in the fourth and ninth games, it was Schuettler who took the first set with a crucial break in the tenth game.

But in the second set, Hewitt found his range and enjoyed the vital breakthrough to win it 6-3 after 1hr 28min on court with the crowd getting behind the Aussie.

Schuettler's popularity with the crowd wasn't helped when he pulled an instamatic camera from his bag to photograph the spot where he believed a disputed ball had landed out.

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