Third seed Lleyton Hewitt battled back to beat Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal 7-5, 3-6, 1-6, 7-6, 6-2 in the Australian Open on Monday and reach the quarter-finals of his home Grand Slam for the first time.
Hewitt had been in deep trouble when the tricky left-hander strung together nine successive games in a crucial period to set up a two-sets-to-one lead but the tenacious Australian clawed his way back to force a tiebreak in the fourth set, which he won 7-3.
Both players scrambled madly around the court before Nadal, 18, appeared to run out of gas from the start of the fifth set. Hewitt raced to a 3-0 lead and closed it out on his third match point when the exhausted Spaniard pushed a backhand long.
Former Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion Hewitt, who beat Nadal in the third round last year, will play one of two Argentines in the quarter-finals -- sixth seed Guillermo Coria or ninth seed David Nalbandian.
Hewitt, the U.S. Open runner-up last year, was troubled by a hip flexor muscle injury he suffered on the way to winning the Sydney International and needed courtside treatment at the end of a surprisingly lopsided third set.
"I was hurting a little out there in the third set but I told myself to hang in there," said Hewitt, who drew strength from his vocal home crowd.
KEEP MOMENTUM
"In the fifth set I was able to keep the momentum going."
Davis Cup hero Nadal also needed treatment for a groin problem after dropping his serve twice in the first three games of the deciding set.
But he still managed to give Hewitt a few nervous moments in the fifth. Hewitt double faulted on his first match point and foot faulted on his second before he finally closed out the match after three hours and 53 minutes on Rod Laver Arena centre court.
Hewitt expected a tough match but seemed to be in control after winning the first set and then breaking for a 2-0 lead in the second.
But Nadal, playing in the fourth round of a grand slam event for the first time, used his whipping forehand and lightning speed to wrest control away from the 23-year-old Australian.
He strung together nine successive games from 2-3 down in the second set to take out that set and then a 5-0 lead in the third.
Nadal played a crucial role in Spain's second Davis Cup title last year, beating Andy Roddick in four sets in the final against the United States to become the youngest player in a Davis Cup winning team.
"He's got nothing to lose. He's got a hell of an attitude, he's got a great attitude for the game," Hewitt said.
Hewitt has had a controversial passage through the tournament, complaining before it began that the Rebound Ace surface was too slow and did not suit him.
He was also involved in a drama-charged third round match against Argentine Juan Chela.
Chela, the 25th seed, was fined $2,000 after he spat towards Hewitt in the fourth set of that match. He later apologised but said he had been angered by Hewitt's aggressive antics on court.
