Lleyton Hewitt fought back from a set down to get his grass-court campaign off to a winning start at the Queen’s Club tournament in London on Monday.
Hewitt, a four-time champion at the event, survived an early scare against American veteran Michael Russell before prevailing 4-6 6-1 6-3 in their first round match.
The result ended a three-match losing streak, stretching back to the Miami Masters in March, as the 32-year-old Australian looks to build form and gain crucial match practice ahead of Wimbledon, starting in a fortnight.
Hewitt, the 2002 Wimbledon champion, was joined in the second round by compatriot Marinko Matosevic, who scored a 7-5 6-2 win over Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen.
Competing at Queen’s for the 13th time, Hewitt looked to have drawn an ideal first-round opponent in Russell, a player more than three years his senior.
However it was the American who dictated play in the opening set, holding serve with relative easy as 82nd-ranked Hewitt struggled to find his rhythm.
A frustrating first set came to an end for Hewitt when he failed to hold serve while trailing 5-4.
He broke back immediately in the second set, then survived a titanic battle to hold serve in the next game before racing away to force the match into a decider.
The third set was a slightly more close-run affair but Hewitt was ultimately too strong as he set up a likely second-round showdown with rising Bulgarian star Grigor Dimitrov.
Earlier, Matosevic made a solid start to his campaign against doubles specialist Nielsen and was relieved to be back on one of his favoured surfaces after a tough time on the clay.
The Australian world No.65 will next face either Spanish 15th seed Pablo Andujar or Frenchman Michael Llodra and a win there would likely set up a showdown with top seed Andy Murray.
“I have to win my second round and then he’s got to win his second round but that would be pretty cool,” Matosevic said of meeting Murray on home soil.
Bernard Tomic opens his campaign against German Benjamin Becker on Tuesday along with Australian qualifier Sam Groth and most of the men’s seeds.
