Lleyton Hewitt lifted a gear when needed to scramble his way into the third round of the French Open with a four sets win over Austrian world No.51 Jurgen Melzer.

Hewitt blew a chance to wrap up a straight sets win when he handed back a break in the third set and grew increasingly frustrated with himself as he ground out a 6-4 6-4 4-6 6-2 win in two hours and 44 minutes.

The 12th seeded Australian appeared to lack a killer punch, giving up early breaks in each of the first three sets as he struggled to assert his service on the red clay.

But he turned up the tempo when under pressure in the fourth set, breaking Melzer's serve twice and convincingly holding on to his own to secure a place in the third round.

Hewitt came back from a break down in the first set to win four games in a row and exchanged breaks with the left hander in the second before a pair of double faults from Melzer gave the former world No.1 the decisive break.

In the third set, Hewitt appeared to be heading for his second straight sets win over Melzer this month when he broke him to lead 4-3 and stepped up to serve to go to a 5-3 lead.

But he did not win a point on his serve and after Melzer held his to lead 5-4, the pony-tailed Austrian broke Hewitt for the second successive game to take the match into a fourth set.

The only Australian left in the tournament, Hewitt came into Roland Garros on the back of the best clay court build up of his career, winning nine of 14 matches on the red dirt before arriving in Paris.

Games went smoothly with serve in the first set on a crisp Paris morning until Hewitt stumbled on his to go down 4-2 as Melzer's deep penetrating forehands gave him the ascendancy.

Hewitt struck back immediately, with a forehand pass giving him two break points.

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