Lleyton Hewitt retires from pro tennis with trademark fight

Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt slammed match-fixing allegations as an “absolute farce” on Thursday as his emotional retirement at the Australian Open was tainted by the corruption claims which have rocked tennis.

Hewitt typically fought to the very end in front of a packed crowd in Rod Laver Arena but was unable to beat the classy Ferrer, who won 6-2 6-4 6-4 to reach the third round.

Lleyton lost to Spaniard David Ferrer in Melbourne last night in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4, but he he battled on despite a leg injury, grunted “c’mon!” a couple of times, and even showed a flash of that feisty 20-year-old, telling an official “you’re a freaking idiot”.

He added: “It’s something I can always be proud of – my whole career I’ve given 100 per cent”.

Ana Ivanovic was concerned when she heard a loud noise as a spectator fell on some stairs at Rod Laver Arena, an accident that delayed her second-round match for nearly a half hour at the Australian Open.

Maria Sharapova is through to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open after a 7-5, 7-5 win over Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.

A part-time player for much of the past year since announcing after his second-round Open loss in 2015 that this would be his farewell to the sport, Hewitt still dared to dream following his first-round triumph over James Duckworth. His attitude toward competition — I loved, ” Murray said.

Now that he’s finally done, Lleyton Hewitt is crediting his “amazing” children for extending his record-setting tennis career.

In the build-up to the match, however, Djokovic was forced to answer questions relating to claims made by Italian newspaper Tuttosport on Wednesday that he had “wanted” to lose against France’s Fabrice Santoro at the Paris Masters nine years ago.

Progression was less smooth for world number three Garbine Muguruza, who struggled through an error-strewn first set against Kirsten Flipkens before finding her touch and winning 6-4, 6-2.

He was warned by chair umpire Pascal Maria, to which Hewitt responded.

As professional as ever, Ferrer broke Hewitt at the start of the second set and did well to keep a lid of the awaiting crowd, who would have erupted at any opportunity Hewitt presented it to them.

If the fans were expecting Hewitt to roll back the years and push his higher ranked opponent the distance, like he has so many times, they were disappointingly mistaken.

“Tennis is going to miss you”.

Andy Murray, who played against Hewitt in the Aussie’s last Davis Cup appearance, a five-set doubles thriller against the Britons in Glasgow last September: “Congratulations on an incredible career”.

Hewitt’s fighting spirit often boiled over in his career and it did against Ferrer too when the Australian took exception to a linesman handing him a foot-fault.

Hewitt won two Grand Slam titles: the U.S. Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2002.

“Just the memories I have of Lleyton that I remember are watching him on the sidelines of Davis Cup really”, Kyrgios said.

Rafael Nadal: “I have always had something special with you”.

“I was getting goose bumps out here tonight”.

“First I felt really bad”.