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When Sebastien Grosjean picked up where he left off at the last of the year's Tennis Masters Series events in Paris by winning the first set, it seemed that a tennis defeat was about to be added to the rugby reversals in England and the embarrassingly close escape against New Zealand in the first cricket Test at Brisbane.

But Hewitt doesn't know how to quit and pounced at the beginning of the second set to break Grosjean; piling on the pressure by getting to the net on crucial points as a 10,000 crowd roared encouragement. Losing in the round robin stage is not quite as terminal as losing in regular tournament play but Hewitt knows how important it is to avoid defeat.

"You can potentially win two matches and still miss out if everything goes the wrong way for you," said Hewitt afterwards. "So you've got to go out there with the attitude to win every match and give 100 percent in every match, and that's what I'm here to do."

Grosjean was philosphical about his inability to keep Hewitt at bay. "He picked up his game in the second set and maybe I got a little tired," said the Florida-based Frenchman, who had flown his family home to Boca Raton from Paris before travelling on to Australia. "You know the big week in Paris and then the journey - maybe it left me a little flat."

There was nothing flat about Andre Agassi as he made sure he gave two week old Jayden something to squeak about by winning his first match as a father. There was nothing the crowd could do about this one despite a brave fight back in the second set by Patrick Rafter, whose form in the early stages - when Agassi reeled off six straight games from a break down to win it 6-2, showed signs of the rust that had accumulated during a two- month layoff.

Too many volleys were dropping lamely off the Rafter racket and when he went a break down at the start of the second set, it seemed all over. The crowd, however, lifted Australia's favorite son and the Queenslander finally began to show glimpses of the form that had enabled to beat Agassi in two successive Wimbledon semifinals when he broke back to level at 2-2 and then reach two break points for a second break at 3-3. But Agassi remained unflustered by the sight of the athletic Australian at the net and a few lovely passing shots down the line enabled him to regain control and close it out 6-4.

The crowd recovered from its disappointment in time to give Agassi a big ovation when he was questioned after the match about the baby and it delighted him. "It feels good," he said. "It's all so new to me. Very few things in your life you cherish so much, and I have to say the one you cherish most is your child and it was good to have that kind of reaction. It did take me by surprise. I'm in a different chapter of my life now and I'm anxious to see how everything is going to develop for me. I doubt I'll be able to do this long enough for my boy to get to see me play but it's sure nice to dream a little bit about that and it's easy to think about."

For the moment Agassi can dream about winning a couple more round robin matches and trying to wrest the No 1 spot away from Gustavo Kuerten. He and Lleyton Hewitt are the only two players who can.