Two-time champion Lleyton Hewitt reached the second round of the Indian Wells Masters series Thursday, where hell meet the man who bounced him from the first round of the Australian Open. Hewitt, unseeded here as he battles his way back from hip surgery last August, beat Czech Jan Hernych 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 to line up the meeting with 17th-seeded Chilean Gonzalez.
Gonzalez defeated the tenacious Australian in a five-set thriller in Melbourne in January, the first time since 2002 that Hewitt had failed to win a match in his home Grand Slam. There was a quick exit for another player on the comeback trail, Russian Maria Sharapova.
Sharapova, who had arthroscopic surgery on her right shoulder last October after missing the US Open and the Beijing Olympics, dipped her toe back into competitive waters with an appearance in doubles with compatriot Elena Vesnina. However, Ekaterina Makarova and Tatiana Poutchek ended the experiment with a 6-1, 4-6 (10/7) super-tiebreak victory.
Hewitt and Sharapova were among the few big names in action Thursday in the 4.5 million-dollar tournament, in which the 32 seeds in the mens and womens draws enjoy first-round byes.
Womens top seed Dinara Safina of Russia was scheduled to open her campaign on Friday, taking on Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in a second-round match. Second seeded Jelena Jankovic and fellow Serbian Ana Ivanovic, the fifth seed and defending champion, wont see action until the weekend.
Mens world number one Rafael Nadal was scheduled to play doubles on Friday, but wont open his bid to regain the singles title he won in 2007 until the weekend, when world number two Roger Federer and defending champion and third seed Novak Djokovic also launch their campaigns. Frances Marc Gicquel booked a meeting with Federer with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Italian Simone Bolelli.