INDIAN WELLS (California) (AFP) - Two-time champion Lleyton Hewitt reached the second round of the Indian Wells Masters series Thursday, where he'll meet the man who bounced him from the first round of the Australian Open. Hewitt, unseeded here as he battles his way back from hip surgery last August, beat Czech Jan Hernych 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 to line up the meeting with 17th-seeded Chilean Gonzalez. Gonzalez defeated the tenacious Australian in a five-set thriller in Melbourne in January, the first time since 2002 that Hewitt had failed to win a match in his home Grand Slam. After failing to break Hernych in the opening set, Hewitt pocketed the tiebreaker by winning the final four points. He broke Hernych in the fifth and ninth games of the second to claim the victory. Hewitt said his hip felt all right. It had hindered him on Sunday when he lost a singles rubber in Australia's Davis Cup tie in Bangkok, which the Aussies went on to win He said the up-and-down nature of his recovery was to be expected."I've spoken to my surgeons and physios enough to know it's going to have good days and bad days," said Hewitt, who won the title here in 2002 and 2003. "It was always going to take nine months to a year after the surgery."There was a quick exit for another player on the comeback trail, Russian Maria Sharapova.Sharapova, who had arthroscopic surgery on her right shoulder last October after missing the US Open and the Beijing Olympics, dipped her toe back into competitive waters with an appearance in doubles with compatriot Elena Vesnina. However, Ekaterina Makarova and Tatiana Poutchek ended the experiment with a 6-1, 4-6 (10/7) super-tiebreak victory. Sharapova said she didn't know when she'd be fit to play singles again, but was delighted with the experience of competing in front of a crowd. "Even if it's doubles, it's completely different," she said. Hewitt and Sharapova were among the few big names in action Thursday in the 4.5 million-dollar tournament, in which the 32 seeds in the men's and women's draws enjoy first-round byes. Women's top seed Dinara Safina of Russia was scheduled to open her campaign on Friday, taking on Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in a second-round match. Second seeded Jelena Jankovic and fellow Serbian Ana Ivanovic, the fifth seed and defending champion, won't see action until the weekend. Men's world number one Rafael Nadal was scheduled to play doubles on Friday, but won't open his bid to regain the singles title he won in 2007 until the weekend, when world number two Roger Federer and defending champion and third seed Novak Djokovic also launch their campaigns. France's Marc Gicquel booked a meeting with Federer with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Italian Simone Bolelli.