Lleyton Hewitt dodged an upset bullet at the $A4.03 million Rome Masters, coming back after an overnight rain interruption to fight through for a 5-7 7-5 6-3 win over Italy's Andreas Seppi.

Hewitt, seeded 15th and a former world No.1, came back out and immediately began his rehabilitation on the clay after the first-round match was interrupted Tuesday night by rain.

The victory denied Seppi, a 20-year-old wild card ranked 216, the chance at his first victory on the ATP after four career losses.

Hewitt improved to 19-4 on the season in his second event of the season on clay following a third-round defeat in Monte Carlo.

As they resumed, the pair stood 3-3 in the second set after Seppi had taken the first.

But Hewitt, holder of two titles this season, quickly put his game back on track in cloudy, windy conditions with a continual threat of more rain, breaking to level the match at a set each.

From then, the Australian insured himself with a break for 3-0 in the third, but had to fight out of trouble through two breaks points as he served for the match leading 5-3.

Hewitt earned a match point from Seppi's 55th error, with the Aussie finishing off the victory after two hours, 39 minutes of battle as his Italian opponent netted a forehand.

"There wasn't a huge change between last night and today," said Hewitt, who did complain that the stadium lighting was "pretty ordinary".

"I didn't hit the ball great last night and lost a bit of confidence in my game. I didn't play as attacking as I should have.

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