Lleyton Hewitt’s best days may be behind him but he’ll never stop trying to win the French Open until the day he retires.

The former US Open and Wimbledon champion has never won at Roland Garros but he made a decent start to his 2010 campaign by beating Jeremy Chardy 7-5 6-0 6-4.

After a tight start to the match, Hewitt claimed the only break of serve of the opening set in game 11 and that sparked a run of eight straight games for the Australian.

Chardy’s first-serve percentage slipped to just 33 per cent in the second set but to his credit he fought harder in the third and recovered from a break down to level at 4-4.

But having lost his serve for the first time in the match, Hewitt simply refocused and immediately hit back before serving out for a place in round two.

The former world number one, who has never beyond the quarter-finals in Paris, will next play Denis Istomin.