Ivanisevic wins epic to set up Hewitt showdown

LONDON (Reuters) - Goran Ivanisevic pulled off a spectacular 4-6 7-6 1-6 6-3 6-4 comeback victory over Italy's Filippo Volandri at Wimbledon on Thursday to set up a third-round showdown with Lleyton Hewitt.

The Croatian, the 2001 winner here, will next meet his successor as Wimbledon champion after Australian Hewitt overcame Georgian Irakli Labadze 6-4 6-4 6-1 earlier in the day.

For almost two hours, it had seemed that Ivanisevic would be bidding Wimbledon farewell on court two -- dubbed the graveyard of champions.

No longer able to depend on his once fearsome serve, Ivanisevic was at Volandri's mercy as the Italian ran him ragged around the court to take a 2-1 lead.

But a determined Ivanisevic refused to bow out and sealed victory after Volandri failed to return a booming serve.

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