Roddick suffered the injury early in the second set but battled on which made him more unpredictable and dangerous, a factor Hewitt found difficult to deal with.
"It's a nightmare for both of us," he said. "Mentally, it was one of my better performances tonight throughout my career.
To keep your mind ticking over the whole time isn't easy. It would have been a lot easier if you weren't playing a big server, he could keep holding his serve out there because there was obviously nothing wrong with his shoulder.
"That was hard and it's probably the biggest positive to take out of tonight."
It is the first time since Wimbledon 2010 that Hewitt has reached the third round in a Grand Slam. He was a first-round casualty at last year's Open, losing a marathon to arch rival David Nalbandian.
The 30-year-old, who came in ranked 181 and needed a wildcard entry into the tournament, now plays another big-server Canadian Milos Raonic after the 23rd seed breezed past German Philipp Petzschner yesterday.
Roddick revealed afterwards he'd aggravated the injury in training last month and was forced to retire because of the possibility of doing more damage.
"It was a hamstring tendon and while you could jog, the extension was not really happening," he said. "It's a miserable terrible thing being out there and being compromised like that.
Obviously he is such a great competitor, such a great fighter and you know he is hurting but I had to try to block that out as much as I (could)." As they have aged, both players have struggled with the wear and tear of years on the circuit.
As Roddick said pre-match, they were playing full seasons back at the turn of the century.
It is Hewitt, though, who has been most affected, hence his ranking of 181 when Roddick remains on the fringe of the top 10.
While Hewitt has been plagued by injuries in recent years - he told a capacity crowd on Rod Laver Arena after the match that he had had five serious injuries and effectively managed to play only two grand slams and two Davis Cup ties last year - Roddick too has had his battles.
For the first time in several years, the 29-year-old opted not to play in the opening week of the year to give his body extra time to recover.
It gets no easier for Hewitt, whose ranking will receive a significant boost for reaching the third round of a grand slam. He now faces Canadian Milos Raonic, the man who edged out Bernard Tomic to be named the ATP's newcomer of the year in 2011.
Raonic, like Roddick, thumps his serve. He is also an impressive ball-striker and first came to notice in Melbourne a year ago when reaching the fourth round before going on to claim a title in the US in February.
Hewitt, who joked that his warm-up for the Roddick match involved kicking a soccer ball with his son, remains a difficult man to defeat even as the end to his career edges closer.
Always a strong returner, he remains confident in his ability and will benefit from having played two matches, even given the early end to last night's encounter.
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