Lleyton Hewitt kept the home fans happy with a 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Canadian Frank Dancevic in the Australian Open second round on Thursday.
Former world number one Hewitt, seeded 19th, started brightly against the world number 88 and without approaching top form he took the first two sets comfortably.
The 22-year-old Dancevic refused to buckle, however, and caused problems for Hewitt with his punchy groundstrokes and powerful serve.
The Canadian had on-court treatment for a back injury during the fourth set and Hewitt took advantage, breaking his serve to clinch victory on his first match point in two hours 48 minutes.
"I got on top of him early and played the big points well," Hewitt told a news conference.
"I didn't serve very well today but I did on the big points. It's pleasing to come through those matches when you're not playing that well."
Hewitt, a former US Open and Wimbledon champion, was taken to five sets in the first round by American qualifier Mike Russell.
"Apart from my serve everything else went a lot better today than against Russell," Hewitt said. "These early matches are tough and you just have to find a way to win them. His (Dancevic's) serve got better and better as the match went on."
The 25-year-old Hewitt, whose best Australian Open performance was reaching the final two years ago, joined compatriot Wayne Arthurs in the last 32 where he will play Chilean 10th seed Fernando Gonzalez.
"Gonzalez is a very dangerous player who can hit winners from anywhere," Hewitt said. "But those are the challenges I look forward to."
Davydenko crushes Muller
Third seed Nikolay Davydenko overwhelmed Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-4, 6-0, 6-3 to ease into the third round.
Russian Davydenko roared through the first two sets in under an hour as Muller, the world number 116, wilted in the face of his opponent's relentless accuracy.
Davydenko maintained his form in the third set and Muller handed him victory on his first match point with a double fault.
Davydenko will play Frenchman Fabrice Santoro next.
