Lleyton Hewitt has been defeated by Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in his opening match in the Australian Open 2013. Tipsarevic won the match in the straight sets by 7-6(7-4), 7-5, 6-3 and knocked Hewitt out of the competition.
A large no. of people turned up to watch the match and cheer for Hewitt who is a superstar in Australia. But, Hewitt didn’t provide them the entertainment that they had come to see. Although, Hewitt played well in patches but, he wasn’t able to hold his nerves on crucial occasions and ended up being defeated.
Neither of the two players managed to get a breakthrough in the first 12 games in the first set and the set went into the tie breaker. Hewitt was off to a great start in the tie breaker and took a lead of 4-0, but, he lost that advantage. Tipsarevic won the next seven points on the trot to seal the opening set.
In the next couple of sets, Hewitt won the first three games on the trot, but, he didn’t manage to maintain that lead in any of the two sets. His service was broken thrice in the second set and twice in the third set.
After the match, Hewitt said, “It’s disappointing to be knocked out from the opening round. I think I started well in all the three sets, but, I wasn’t able to maintain the intensity throughout the set.”
“When you play against a player who is in the top 10, you can’t afford to miss the chances. I lost too many opportunities which proved to be costly at the end.”
“Tipsarevic is a fantastic player and today, he was certainly at his best. Even after being trailed in the last two sets, he didn’t get nervous and bounced back beautifully.”