Simon Cambers

PARIS, May 29 (Reuters) Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt crushed Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-3 6-1 6-3 in the first round of the French Open today and said he believed he had an outside chance of winning the title for the first time.

The Australian, who has never been beyond the last eight in Paris, returned superbly on his way to an impressive victory.

''If you look at my results at the other three majors I've won two out of the three, made a final in the other one, came awfully close,'' Hewitt said.

''Roger (Federer)'s been a stand-out on three of the grand slams and (Rafael) Nadal here. They're definitely the guys to beat.

''(But), the last few weeks, I've been putting in the hard yards. I'd like to think I've still got a crack at it.'' HEWITT CONFIDENT Hewitt has lost to the eventual champion three times (2000, 2004 and 2006). Nadal is a likely fourth-round opponent -- as last year -- but Hewitt pushed the Spaniard hard in Hamburg earlier this month before yielding 7-5 in the deciding set.

''I played well against him here last year, and I felt like I had pretty much no preparation coming into this tournament, and I had a dodgy ankle,'' he said.

''I played a great first set (in Hamburg), put pressure on him, and it turned into a dogfight in the end. It could have gone either way, those few points to go into a tiebreak, third set.

''It definitely gives me confidence. He's been the stand-out claycourt player over the last three years. Not many guys have come that close to him either.'' In round two, though, Hewitt faces 2004 champion, Argentine Gaston Gaudio, who came into Roland Garros having won just five matches this year.

''Out of all the unseeded guys, he's probably as tough as it gets, in this grand slam,'' Hewitt said.

''We've had a lot of tough matches in the past on this surface and I lost to him the year that he won. So it won't be an easy match.'' REUTERS SBA BST0210