Lleyton Hewitt was unable to win his first-round clash with Janko Tipsarevic at the Australian Open. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun
LLEYTON Hewitt's career resurrection hit a wall by the name of Janko Tipsarevic.
The Australian veteran came to Melbourne Park brimming with renewed confidence, but he ran into the Serbian No.8 seed who has as much determination and a couple more weapons which he rode to victory, 7-6 (4) 7-5 6-3.
Hewitt's greatest strength is his love of a scrap and getting back every ball.
But Tipsarevic is a younger version, which is why the match lasted 3hr 2min.
After a tight opening set in which the hometown hero looked the better player only to falter late, Hewitt raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set.
Then the match changed complexion.
Tipsarevic proceeded to win 10 of the next 12 games to seize control of the match which he never relinquished.
A frustrated Hewitt later admitted he didn't think he'd done too much wrong, but the Serbian had played out of his skin.
"Frustration, disappointment, they are the first feelings," Hewitt said.
"More so when you put in the hard yards, do the right things and I felt I didn't play a poor standard match. He just played too well on the big points.
"I was pretty happy with my ball striking, I moved pretty well so I'm just frustrated with the result.
"The quality of baseline points out there tonight were pretty high for most part and his scrambling and passing shots from out of position was exceptional tonight."
Hewitt thought he was a tad unlucky to come up against Tipsarevic at the peak of his powers.
"I don't think he does play like that all the time," he said. "He played as well as he can play, there's no doubt about it."
Lleyton Hewitt was outclassed by world No.8 Janko Tipsarevic on Rod Laver Arena. Picture: Jason Edwards Source: Herald Sun
"I was saying, 'Please, please don't say it's Lleyton'," Tipsarevic said after his win.
"It is as tough as it gets to play Lleyton here and I'm just really, really happy that I managed to win in three sets.
"I think the difference was I took my chances and Lleyton didn't because the first two sets really could have gone either way."
Hewitt, 31, declared coming into his 17th consecutive Australian Open that he was hitting the ball better than he could remember after finally getting his body right following five surgeries over the past four years.
He showed he was back to something like his best at last week's Kooyong Classic where he comfortably defeated No.6 ranked Juan Matin del Potro in the final.
But Tipsarevic, 28, is one of the most improved players on the circuit over the past couple of years. He has finished in the top 10 the past two years after turning his career around by living and breathing his profession 24/7.
It was the sixth time Hewitt has fallen in the first round, most recently against David Nalbandian in 2011.
Hewitt's exit hands the baton over to Bernard Tomic as Australia's man most likely with the Queenslander kicking off his Open campaign tonight on Rod Laver Arena against Argentine Leonardo Mayer.
There was no surprise in the fact the Hewitt-Tipsarevic match was a scrap, with both players more than happy to slug it out on the baseline although the Australian did some of his best work when he made it into the net.
Janko Tipsarevic celebrates his straight sets win over Lleyton Hewitt. Picture: George Salpigtidis Source:
Put simply, he gets as many balls back as Hewitt does which is saying something.
The Australian started the way he wanted, being the aggressor and by most measurements he should have been a long way ahead in the opening set.
Hewitt was forced to save a break point in the 11th game and only got it after a successful challenge on an ace.
He then had 00/30 on Tipsarevic's serve but the Serbian manage to close out his service and then race to a 4-0 lead in the tie-break.
Hewitt did save two set points before evenutally succumbing 7-4 in the tie-break to end an epic 69-minute first set.
The statistics showed Hewitt had hit 24-14 winners -- including 12-5 advantage at the net -- but had blown all that with a 23-11 unforced error count.
Hewitt took control of the second set before uncharacteristically losing his way.
The biggest problem was his serve which lost the plot, going well under 50 per cent as he left the door wide open for Tipsarevic who strolled through it.
After falling 0-3 down early in the third, the Australian fought back to even the ledger, but he suffered his fifth break of serve in the eighth game which handed Tipsarevic victory.
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