Lleyton Hewitt, like any good Australian man, knows how to throw a party.

The grizzled veteran of the ATP Tour might no longer be a contender for major titles, but the two-time Grand Slam champion got the 2009 French Open started in style on Sunday in Paris. In a first-round rematch of one of the more noted upsets in tennis history, Hewitt gained a small measure of revenge by erasing a two-set deficit and toppling 26th-seeded Ivo Karlovic in a 3-hour, 56-minute marathon. Hewitt’s 6-7 (1), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3 win over the king-sized Croatian reminded tennis fans why Hewitt reached the top of the sport several years ago.

Back in June of 2003, Hewitt–just eight days after relinquishing the world No. 1 ranking–stepped on Wimbledon’s Centre Court to defend his 2002 championship in suburban London. Standing in his way on that first-round Monday was Karlovic, a then-unknown beanstalk of a man who elicited quizzical reactions from fans and press alike. In fairly short order, however, the 6-foot-10 giant would make his presence felt.

After four sets of hard-serving, ball-bludgeoning tennis, the world would come to know and appreciate Karlovic, who dismissed the second-ranked Hewitt in a manner Goran Ivanisevic would have appreciated. Ever since that match, Karlovic hasn’t become an elite figure in the men’s game, but the 30-year-old has carved out an entirely respectable career marked by a brief appearance in the top 15 last August. When Karlovic and Hewitt staged a Grand Slam reunion on the first day of this year’s French Open, Parisians had a right to expect a compelling competition on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

With that said, no one could have known just how delicious a duel this would turn out to be.

The greatness of this particular Hewitt-Karlovic confrontation could be found in the fact that the loser played quite well. Karlovic is a server, and the towering Croatian overcame the slow red clay of Roland Garros by banging in an eye-popping 55 aces. Even in the fourth and fifth sets, when Hewitt registered three of his four service breaks, Karlovic hit his first serve at a very high percentage (80 percent in the fourth, 73 in the fifth). All told, Karlovic hit 97 winners compared to just 46 unforced errors, a ratio slightly better than 2-to-1. Claycourt matches usually involve ugly winner-error ratios, so Karlovic can’t really lament his overall performance. Only the end result eluded the gentle giant on a memorable afternoon in France; Karlovic lost a match, but he went down with his best stuff.

The reason why Hewitt withstood the Croatian’s barrage was as simple as it was admirable: A former champion forged by pure tenacity simply refused to fold.

Hewitt’s ascendancy in the early part of this decade rested on his unmatched competitiveness. By working harder, playing longer, and believing more deeply than his opponents, Hewitt won many a match–at slams and everywhere else–by outlasting opponents and breaking them down mentally. This is exactly what the credentialed Australian did to Karlovic. It’s one thing to lose a single tiebreak to a Croatian who–due to his weakness as a returner–plays a ton of tiebreak sets, but Hewitt had to endure two straight tiebreak setbacks in this first-round throwdown. Yet, Hewitt was able to survive a third tiebreak and steer this match into a fourth set. Having extended the battle, Hewitt brought his psychological strength to bear on the proceedings. Karlovic might have remained solid as a server from a standpoint of raw percentages, but the Croat could no longer power the ball through the court. After slamming 41 aces through the first three sets, Karlovic could only muster 7 aces in the fourth, and Hewitt pounced on a break chance to take the set, 6-4. A similar story unfolded in the final stanza, as Hewitt–who lost just a single service point in the fifth set–broke Karlovic twice to advance to the second round.

Ivo Karlovic played well, but Lleyton Hewitt played better. A gritty former champion gained a piece of redemption, delighting French fans in a tennis match that didn’t feel as though it was played on clay.

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