Hewitt survives 55 aces to win French Open

Lleyton Hewitt lunged and whiffed at some serves, his racket hitting only air. He simply stood and watched other balls whirr past.

Over and over and over again Sunday, Hewitt's opponent in the French Open's first round, the 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic, smacked aces from on high, finishing with a tournament-record 55. Those easy points helped Karlovic take the first two sets - and made Hewitt think back to the day in 2003 when he was the defending champion at Wimbledon and lost his opening match to the tallest player in tour history.

"The angle he gets, you can't touch a lot of his serves," Hewitt said. "It's physically impossible."

This time, as the 26th-seeded Karlovic tired in heat that topped 80 degrees, Hewitt grew more and more comfortable, and the two-time major champion's bothersome hip looked fine while he climbed all the way back for a 6-7 (1), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3 victory.

How could a player who compiles 55 aces possibly lose?

"Don't know," was Hewitt's simple reply.

Karlovic was similarly befuddled, saying: "It is difficult to explain."

Theirs amounted to the most riveting match of Day 1 at the only Grand Slam tournament that starts on a Sunday. Otherwise, there were straight-set wins for defending champion Ana Ivanovic, Andy Murray and Marat Safin - who is appearing in his final French Open, but please be sure not to ask him about that - and straight-set exits for 2004 champion Gaston Gaudio and two-time major winner Amelie Mauresmo.