Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt breathed a sigh of relief after completing an edgy 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 victory over wildcard Andreas Seppi at the Rome Masters on Wednesday.

The first-round match was suspended because of rain on Tuesday with Hewitt a set down to the inexperienced Italian and the score tied at 3-3 in the second.

That left the Australian with a nervous wait overnight as he tried to avoid becoming the latest high-profile casualty in the opening round of the tournament behind U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick and third seed Rainer Schuettler.

Hewitt, a former Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion, appeared to have restored the pecking order when he broke Seppi's opening service game after the restart on Wednesday.

But his 20-year-old opponent, who had failed to win any of his previous four ATP matches, hit straight back, dipping a backhand pass crosscourt to leave Hewitt stranded at the net and snatch back the break.

Hewitt, however, fired a barrage of heavy groundstrokes to break again in the 12th game and take the match into a third set, in which an early break proved decisive.

"When I woke up this morning and realised what was possible I felt a lot more nervous and that had a big impact on my game," Seppi said.

"Overall, though, I think I played well. It's just a pity we couldn't finish it last night."