Hewitt, Myskina up the ante
Afp, Paris
Lleyton Hewitt and Anastasia Myskina, two players with plenty to prove at the French Open, moved into the third round on Thursday.The former world number one Hewitt overcame a difficult first set before seeing off French wildcard Mathieu Montcourt 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 and now faces Slovakian 22nd seed Domimik Hrbaty for a place in the last 16. The 25-year-old Hewitt played his first clay court match in two years in Austria last week, lost in the first round and suffered an ankle injury. But after saving a set point in the 10th game on Thursday, Hewitt was never really troubled by an opponent ranked 213 in the world and who was playing in his first tour event. "It was a tough first set," said Hewitt. "I knew nothing about him before the match so it took time to work him out. But once I got the first set under my belt, I got better as the match went on." Myskina, the 2004 winner who suffered the embarrassment of becoming the first defending women's champion to be knocked out in the first round 12 months later, eased past Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-2, 6-4. The Russian tenth seed now takes on Serbian 19th seed Ana Ivanovic who beat Emilie Loit of France 6-1, 6-1 for a place in the fourth round. Top seed Roger Federer and Russian golden girl Maria Sharapova lifted the Paris gloom on Wednesday when they shrugged off the bitter cold and rain-choked skies to reach the French Open third round. World number one Federer took just 86 minutes to brush aside the feeble challenge of Colombia's Alejandro Falla 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 as he kept his Grand Slam dream on track. The Swiss top seed, who now faces Chilean 32nd seed Nicolas Massu, is bidding to become the first man since 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time. "It was tough to concentrate," said Federer whose march to victory was interrupted by two rain stoppages. "You come back on court and hope your game hasn't left you but I was always in control today." Women's top seed Amelie Mauresmo recovered from second set jitters before overpowering Russia's Vera Dushevina of 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) and now faces Serb Jelena Jankovic for a place in the last 16. Russian fourth seed Sharapova also braved two rain suspensions before easing past the Czech Republic's Iveta Benesova 6-4, 6-1. Sharapova now takes on Australia's Alicia Molik for a place in the fourth round.
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