Hewitt loses 1st-round match at Australian Open

Lleyton Hewitt of Australia wipes the sweat from his face during their first round match against Andreas Seppi of Italy at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday. AP

MELBOURNE, Australia—Andreas Seppi ended perennial local favorite Lleyton Hewitt’s 18th appearance at the Australian Open with a 7-6 (4), 6-3, 5-7, 5-7, 7-5 win Tuesday.

Former Number 1-ranked Hewitt, who beat 17-time major winner Roger Federer in last week’s Brisbane International final, had a match point late in the 4-hour, 18-minute match. But he was broken in that 11th game before Seppi held serve in the next to close out the 63-minute fifth set.

The closest Hewitt has come to capturing the title at his home Grand Slam event was as losing finalist to Marat Safin in 2005.

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