Lleyton Hewitt has been defeated by Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic in the first round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters 2012. Stepanek won the match in the straight sets by 7-5, 6-1.
Stepanek who is currently ranked 41st in the official rankings of WTA took just 85 minutes to knock Hewitt out of the competition. Hewitt fought hard in the opening set of the match, but, in the second set, he seemed to have no answer of the powerful shots of Stepanek. The Czech player smashed a couple of aces in each set.
After losing the match, Hewitt said, “It’s obviously disappointing to get knocked out from the very first round. I played decently in the first few games, but, as the match progressed, I lost my composure.”
When asked whether he is planning to retire, Hewitt said, “No, I think there is still a bit of tennis left in me and I can still win matches at the top level and as long as I think so, I am not going to retire.”
“I am still hungry for success and that’s what matters the most. It’s true that the last few months haven’t been great for me, but, I am confident that I will regain my form back pretty soon.”
Both the players started the match pretty well. There were no breakthroughs in the first 11 games of the first set and the scorecard was saying 6-5 in the favour of Stepanek. Hewitt had to hold his service in the next game to take the set to the tie breaker, but, he failed to do so. His service was broken in the 12th game and he lost the first set by 5-7.
In the second set, Stepanek was on fire. He broke Hewitt’s service in the second game and won the first three games in a row to take a lead of 3-0. Hewitt served out the fourth game, but, that was the last game to be won by him in the match. Stepanek wrapped up the match by winning the next three games.
In the second round, Stepanek will take on Richard Gasquet of France.