Australian Leyton Hewitt proved himself a serious contender for this year's French Open title with a marathon 3-6 6-7 6-2 6-3 6-3 win over Argentina's Guillermo Canas. The match was suspended last night after darkness fell with Hewitt leading 4-2 in the final set. He needed just three games today to secure his victory over the third round conqueror of Britain's Tim Henman and with it a place in the quarter-finals against Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero.
The 20-year-old is hoping to become the first Australian man to win the singles title at Roland Garros since Grand Slam king Rod Laver back in 1969. However, he will have to improve his killer touch if he is to achieve that dream as he could have dispatched Canas much earlier in their tie but he squandered several match points.
"I just didn't play aggressive on those points. I know this was a big match for him. He had beaten Tim Henman in five sets and I knew it was going to be tough. I had to dig deep but I played pretty solid today and it was nice to go up two breaks. I'm just glad to get through," he said afterwards.
Meanwhile, Sebastien Grosjean kept the home crowd happy by booking his place in the last eight with victory over Spain's Gallo Blanco. The Frenchman overcame the second round conqueror of Pete Sampras 6-3 6-4 6-1 to set-up a quarter-final tie with Andre Agassi, who this afternoon emerged victor from tough tie against Argentina's Franco Squillari. The third seed eventually overcame Squillari 4-6 6-2 6-4 1-6 6-0.
"It was such a tough match," said Agassi. "Anything could have happened. It just happened to go my way. Franco played an incredible fourth set. He went for his shots and served well and I had to step up my game in the fifth set. But I feel I'm getting better with each match, hitting the ball more aggressively."
"There's no question the crowd helped me in the fifth set," he added. "The hairs on my body were standing up. There was so much electricity out there. It's an exciting time. You've got to enjoy it because you'll never get it back. You show up at these places and you never know when is the last you're going to be here. It's special. But with his home crowd Sebastien is going to be really tough to beat. It's going to be a hard-fought match. I'm going to do my best to not hear anything out there and just go to work."
In the day's other fourth round matches, Switzerland's Roger Federer beat Australian Wayne Arthurs 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-2 to put a Swiss player in the quarter-finals of a men's Grand Slam for only the fifth time in the game's history. Federer's quarter-final appearance will be the first by a Swiss man since Marc Rosset in 1996. Spain's Alex Corretja and Frenchman Fabrice Santoro are currently playing for the final quarter-final spot.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
