Top seed Lleyton Hewitt wasted three match points before battling past American Brian Vahaly 6-4 6-1 6-7 6-3 in the first round of the French Open today.
The Australian looked far from convincing as he toiled for more than three hours on the slow red clay to overcome an opponent ranked 76th in the world.
After winning a closely contested first set in 55 minutes, Hewitt showed Vahaly no mercy in the second, unleashing a series of devastating forehand winners from the baseline.
But Hewitt lost his touch in the next set and wasted three match points in the tiebreak - hitting a double fault on the third - before losing it 8-6.
He won the match by taking the fourth set 6-3.
Hewitt will face the winner of the match between Russian Nikolay Davydenko and Greg Rusedski of Britain.
Earlier, Tim Henman put his recent poor form and injury worries behind him to thrash Belarussian Vladimir Voltchkov 6-2 6-3 6-1 and reach the second round.
He has struggled with his right shoulder since undergoing surgery last December and had won just four matches all year coming into the tournament.