Italy's Andreas Seppi survived a fightback from Lleyton Hewitt to beat the crowd favourite in five sets at the Australian Open.

Hewitt stormed back from two sets down to force a decider against Seppi, but the number 24 seed eventually prevailed 7-6 6-3 5-7 5-7 7-5.

The duo shared four breaks of serves during the opening set on the Rod Laver Arena, before Seppi edged out the Australian in a tie-break, and he soon moved into a two-set lead.

However, Hewitt found his form at the conclusion of the third and fourth sets to send his home fans into a frenzy as they sensed a remarkable comeback from the 32-year-old.

Seppi moved into an early lead in the decider before Hewitt broke back for 4-4, but after saving a match point, the Italian broke Hewitt in the 11th game, and he served out the match in confident fashion to move into the last 64.