Competitive Hewitt Falls Just Short in Doubles Return
Lleyton Hewitt made a surprise return to the ATP World Tour at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp on Tuesday.
Teaming up with compatriot Jordan Thompson in doubles, his first tour-level event since 2016 Wimbledon, the Australian pairing lost a tight first-round encounter as Grigor Dimitrov and Ryan Harrison emerged victorious 6-3, 1-6, 10-5. Dimitrov and Harrison were clinical down the stretch, managing to win five of eight points on return in the Match Tie-break.
The Bulgarian-American duo will next meet another Australian team, as Nick Kyrgios and Matt Reid rallied from a set down to defeat fourth seeds Marcus Daniell and Dominic Inglot 4-6, 6-1, 10-7.
No decider was needed for Leonardo Mayer and Horacio Zeballos who took just 52 minutes to race into the second round. The all-Argentine team punished their opponents Diego Schwartzman and Mischa Zverev on every second serve return (12/12) on their way to a comfortable 6-2, 6-0 victory.