PARIS -- Tommy Robredo was gleefully orchestrating the standing ovation on Court 1, very much the matador in the crenulated venue they call "The Bullring."

	Tommy Robredo said: 'I think there is nothing better than this match, no?'

The vanquished Lleyton Hewitt, face red with fury, passed a few feet behind him and spat in disgust as he stepped into the tunnel.

On any other surface, Robredo isn't going to get a sniff of the No. 1-ranked player in the world, but on the forgiving red clay at Roland Garros the 21-year-old Spaniard had a chance. He lost the first two sets handily, but then something surprising happened: Hewitt, the consummate fighter, let Robredo back in the match.

Surprise congealed into shock on Saturday when Robredo ran away with the last three sets, bouncing the top-seeded Hewitt from the French Open 4-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. It was the first time in his career that the 22-year-old Australian lost a match after winning the first two sets. By contrast, the No. 28 seed, has yet to lose a five-set match; he is now a pristine 4-0.

A career match?

"I think there is nothing better than this match, no?" Robredo asked afterward. "Because if you are going two sets down with Hewitt and you try to keep going, keep going, try to come back at the game and win the third, then the fourth, and then the fifth, after losing 3-1, there is nothing better, no?

"Beating the world No. 1 like this, I think it's the best thing I can imagine before a tournament. Right now I'm excited, no?"

Well, yes.

The fact that Hewitt had a 3-0 lead in the last set and had two game points to go up 4-1, made it tougher for him to absorb.

"I never thought I had it in the bag, no way," Hewitt said. "I wasn't holding my service games easy enough to even think about that. If I could have kept my nose in front there, it was going to put a hell of a lot of pressure on his service games. You know, I had chances. I just didn't take advantage of them."

It is a tribute to Robredo that, even down 0-3, he pressed on.

"When you are two sets down and you make two sets all, then the other guy gets 3-0, you make like this (exasperated look) and you leave the match. I was thinking, 'I cannot lose right now the fifth set if I come back after two sets down.' I try. I push."

Hewitt not winning the French Open is hardly a surprise -- the 2001 U.S. Open and 2002 Wimbledon champion has never advanced past the quarterfinals here. But this represents his worst showing at Roland Garros since he was 18.

So what happened?

	Lleyton Hewitt tried to pump himself up but let his lead slip away.

"He put more importance on getting off to a good start in the next two sets, which he had to," Hewitt said. "And I probably just took the foot off the pedal a little bit, I guess, at the start of the third and fourth.

"I think at the start of the fourth I had a few chances to go up a break. I think there was a 30-all point there, he hit a net cord. I had chances and didn't play the big points well enough."

And yet, in the eighth game of the ultimate set, Hewitt created an opening. Robredo tried a drop shot -- a gutsy decision against the player most consider the fastest in the world -- but it found the net. That gave Hewitt a break point. Robredo, inexplicably, tried another drop shot. This one barely cleared the net, but Hewitt got there, pushing back a volley. Already in position, Robredo ripped a cross-court forehand past Hewitt for deuce. Hewitt slapped an impatient forehand into the high part of the net from the doubles alley on the right side and then his backhand service return sailed long.

Robredo took a 5-3 lead and Hewitt's spirit was broken. He won only one point in his final service game, flicking an unforced, cavalier backhand too long at the end. The match was eerily reminiscent of Hewitt's exit last year in the round of 16, when he won the first set against Guillermo Canas, then lost the last three.

Robredo, on the other hand, has a history here, and a good one. He has now won eight of his 10 matches at the French Open. Last year, he fell to Andre Agassi in the third round. In his debut in 2001, he reached the round of 16, eventually losing to Yevgeny Kafelnikov. In 2000, he advanced all the way to the boys' final, losing to Paul-Henri Mathieu.

The five-set comeback extracted a price from Robredo. He was still cramping at his postmatch interview after the three-hour, 24-minute battle.

"Even if clay isn't his favorite surface, he is winning two-sets-to-love," Robredo said of Hewitt. "I came back from three-love in the fifth -- that was fabulous."

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.