The first day of the Australian Open saw 8 locals bundled from the tournament, including the 31-yearold former number 1 Lleyton Hewitt.
It was a pretty sad day for camp Hewitt. Even his most vicious detractors must admire his perseverance as the fit and rejuvenated Hewitt played out one of the better strait sets losses you’re likely to see in the tournament. Going down to 8th seed Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 6-3, Hewitt was gutsy and playing well but was faced with the frustrating conclusion, he just wasn’t good enough.
It’s not likely to get any easier for Hewitt. With his world rank in danger of sliding out of the 80’s, Hewitt will continue to be matched up against fearsome opponents from round 1 of the major slams. Going on his performance, Hewitt still has a few decent upsets in him but it’s a pretty slippery slope into rankings oblivion.
Attention turns to Aussie top seeds Bernard Tomic and Marinko Matosevic who both play today. Bernard looks to have eased up on his petulant little shit schtick and is enjoying plenty of support. Maybe too much, with a tournament highlight 3rd round match against Roger Federer considered a given in some sections of the media.
Sam Stosur remains Australia’s best title hope but will have to continue her search for form after a scratchy win against Taiwanese free-swinger Kai-Chen Chang, 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.
