His sickly ranking of 125? His coach, Tony Roche, insisted it is merely the result of inactivity after surgery to support deteriorating bone and cartilage in Hewitt’s battered left foot.

“He just needs matches,” Roche said after Hewitt’s 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 victory.

That he had not been out of the first round here in two years?

“I didn’t play last year,” Hewitt said to his questioner with much greater amusement than annoyance. “Tough judge.”

Not quite as pleasant as Clijsters, Hewitt has apparently mellowed since the summer of 2001, when he brought a blizzard of scorn upon himself by calling for the removal of a black linesman for what he seemed to say was favoritism of James Blake, an American of mixed-race parents. Judging by the reception he received Wednesday, the incident has long been forgiven, and in some cases forgotten.

“Got a lot of support out there,” Hewitt said. “I was able to feed off it.”

On the personal side, his wife, Bec, an Australian actress and singer he married in 2005 and has three children with, was at courtside, along with Roche and a handful of other team members. They shouted a continuous mantra — “come on, mate” — when Hewitt failed to close out the first set after leading by 4-1, 0-40, was broken in the first game of the second set and was beginning to look out on his feet.

Besides not being match tough, Hewitt said he has had to adjust to the simple act of walking, much less running, after the metal surgically installed in his left big toe has left it with little flexibility. The heart, however, is ticking as well as ever. Just when the 26-year-old Kamke, ranked 90th, began controlling points with his backhand, Hewitt dug in, broke back for 1-all and went on a throwback roll to win 12 of 14 games.