LONDON, June 9, 2008 (AFP) - Lleyton Hewitt admitted he is willing to play through the pain barrier as the Australian bids to recapture his former glories on grass.

Hewitt, 27, made a solid start to his bid for a record fifth Queen's Club title as he reached the second round with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Josh Goodall on Monday.

But the former Wimbledon and US Open champion is struggling with the hip injury which kept him sidelined for several months recently.

Hewitt returned to action at the French Open, where he lost to David Ferrer in a five-set thriller, but he conceded he wouldn't have rushed back early without the lure of his favourite month of the tennis calender.

He has a phenomenal record in England, winning Wimbledon in 2002 as well as claiming four Queen's titles, so the chance of aggrevating his hip problem was a risk worth taking.

"Yeah, I'm not a hundred percent, still battling the hip injury a little bit. But, you know, just trying to get through it and hopefully not aggravate it any more," Hewitt said.

Asked if he would have played on with the injury at any other time of year, Hewitt said: "Probably not, no. I would have liked to have got the injury right a hundred percent before I came back.

"But, you know, I don't like missing majors. That's why I'm still playing tennis, for the big tournaments.

"The small tournaments don't mean that much to me. You know, to go out there and play in the French Open, fantastic atmosphere again, that's what I play for."

French Open champion Rafael Nadal, reigning Queen's champion Roddick, Novak Djokovic and Britain's Andy Murray were among the top seeds given byes into the second round.

So it was the perfect chance for Hewitt to stake his claim for the crown he last claimed in 2006.

Hewitt has slipped down to 30th in the world rankings and was beaten in the first round by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga last year, but the 11th seed will always fancy his chances on grass.

He broke in the third game of the first set and Goodall, ranked 269th, never threatened to make an impact on Hewitt's serve as he closed out the set.

Hewitt had to work harder in the second set as Goodall scrapped gamely. He finally killed off his opponent when he broke in the seventh game of the second set, eventually finishing the match with a cross-court winner.

Getting used to the sensation of playing on grass always takes a while, even for a seasoned campaigner like Hewitt, and he admitted it was a relief to get his first match out of the way.

"It's always a little bit tough first match on grass. The court on the first day hasn't had any play on it either. You've just got to be careful with your footing a little bit," he said.

"That was a good knock because I felt like I served smartly throughout the match, hit my spots well when I needed to. On my returns, I felt like I was putting a lot more pressure on him than he was on my service games."

He now faces either Xavier Malisse or Daniel Evans as he tries to pull clear of Andy Roddick, Boris Becker and John McEnroe, who all have four titles here.