MELBOURNE, Australia -- Pumped and inspired despite the late hour, Lleyton Hewitt extended his match-winning stretch this year to 11 with a four-set triumph over Paul Goldstein at the Australian Open.

In a first-round match that started Tuesday and finished at 2 a.m. Wednesday local time, Hewitt cruised through the first set in 25 minutes but was forced to work hard for a 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-4 win against the former college All-American.

The 18-year-old Australian entered the first Grand Slam tournament of the century as the leader in the 2000 Champions' points race after back-to-back tournament victories in Adelaide and Sydney.

"Last week I didn't lose a set in Sydney, so to have a tough match first up was nice," said Hewitt. "Hopefully the roll keeps continuing -- I'm hitting the ball well and I'm match hardened. Hopefully I've got the stamina to last two weeks."

Goldstein, 23, said he was "unlucky to catch a guy on such a roll."

"I have no complaints about the way I played, I give him a lot of credit," the American said, adding that "it'll be hard to get to sleep because I'll be back in a few hours to play doubles."

Hewitt grabbed a double-break early in the first set but couldn't break the American again for more than two hours as the second and third sets went to tiebreaks.

The pair exchanged service breaks early in the fourth before Hewitt finally grabbed control.

"I was going out there expecting a lot of service breaks, but I'm happy that didn't happen," said Hewitt. "(Goldstein) plays a similar game to me -- he plays a lot from the baseline but he attacked a lot more than usual today.

"I thought I was on fire at the start. But to Paul's credit, he lifted his game a few notches and didn't give me a cheap point for the rest of the match.

"Right now I'm drained but I'll be all right in two days."

Hewitt, who hasn't advanced past the second round in three previous campaigns at the Australian Open, will meet Alex Corretja of Spain in the second round.

The pair met last week, with Hewitt winning en route to clinching the Adidas International title. But he said he was expecting a tougher game in Melbourne.

"I'm expecting a lot tougher Thursday -- we'll be out there for a long time again," Hewitt said. "I'll just have to put in the work."