Perennial crowd favourite Lleyton Hewitt faces a stern test in his opener against clay-court specialist Albert Montanes. The 30-year-old Australian has reached at least the third round on each of his past five visits here, but he is returning from a foot injury and will have his work cut out against the experienced Spaniard, whose five titles in ATP World Tour events have all come on clay.
Recently described by legendary coach Tony Roche as the "toughest competitor I have ever seen", Hewitt underwent foot surgery in March and arrives at Roland Garros without any clay court preparation to speak of. A lesser player would find that sort of handicap hard to overcome, but those remarkable fighting qualities make the Australian a dangerous opponent.
Besides, the former Wimbledon and US Open winner is used to battling back from injury and upsetting the odds, no more so than last season when he came back from a four-month spell on the sidelines to reach the third round at the French Open only to fall to Rafael Nadal for the fourth time in five years. He then beat Roger Federer to win the Halle tournament on grass, before coming close to upsetting Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.
Such an exceptional European summer would appear unlikely this time, but given his excellent record in Paris and providing that his foot holds up, Hewitt will be looking beyond Montanes for greater challenges ahead.
Ranked 37 in the world, Montanes arrives in Paris on the back of a disappointing European clay court season to date. While he made the quarter-finals in Belgrade, losing in straight sets to Feliciano Lopez, he suffered first round defeats at the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Madrid and Rome, losing to Richard Gasquet and Sergiy Stakhovsky respectively.
If he finds his range however, especially on his dangerous forehand, 30-year-old Montanes is a tricky customer on clay. Five ATP titles on the surface speak volumes of his pedigree, and like Hewitt he is well known for his never-say-die attitude. Fans heading to Suzanne Lenglen court could well be in for a treat on Sunday, as Hewitt and Montanes look to get their seasons back on track. The winner will move on to a probable second round encounter with no.19 seed Marin Cilic, with their confidence restored and hopeful of an upset.
Recently described by legendary coach Tony Roche as the "toughest competitor I have ever seen", Hewitt underwent foot surgery in March and arrives at Roland Garros without any clay court preparation to speak of. A lesser player would find that sort of handicap hard to overcome, but those remarkable fighting qualities make the Australian a dangerous opponent.
Besides, the former Wimbledon and US Open winner is used to battling back from injury and upsetting the odds, no more so than last season when he came back from a four-month spell on the sidelines to reach the third round at the French Open only to fall to Rafael Nadal for the fourth time in five years. He then beat Roger Federer to win the Halle tournament on grass, before coming close to upsetting Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.
Such an exceptional European summer would appear unlikely this time, but given his excellent record in Paris and providing that his foot holds up, Hewitt will be looking beyond Montanes for greater challenges ahead.
Ranked 37 in the world, Montanes arrives in Paris on the back of a disappointing European clay court season to date. While he made the quarter-finals in Belgrade, losing in straight sets to Feliciano Lopez, he suffered first round defeats at the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Madrid and Rome, losing to Richard Gasquet and Sergiy Stakhovsky respectively.
If he finds his range however, especially on his dangerous forehand, 30-year-old Montanes is a tricky customer on clay. Five ATP titles on the surface speak volumes of his pedigree, and like Hewitt he is well known for his never-say-die attitude. Fans heading to Suzanne Lenglen court could well be in for a treat on Sunday, as Hewitt and Montanes look to get their seasons back on track. The winner will move on to a probable second round encounter with no.19 seed Marin Cilic, with their confidence restored and hopeful of an upset.
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