Former champion Hewitt advances into fourth round at Wimbledon

Australia's Lleyton Hewitt celebrates defeating France's Gael Monfils at the 2010 Wimbledon tennis championships in London, June 25, 2010.

LONDON, June 25 -- Former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia battled into the fourth round of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament on Friday, setting up an encounter with the third seed Novak Djokovic.

The 15th seed Hewitt needed two hours and nine minutes to see off French 21st seed Gael Monfils 6-3, 7-6(9), 6-4 to advance into the last 16 at his consecutive 12th appearance at the All England Club.

Hewitt, 29, won the Wimbledon title in 2002. He is going to face Serbian ace Djokovic as the world number three grabbed an easy 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win over Spanish Albert Montanes on Friday.

(Reuters)