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Wimbledon 2015: Hewitt waves final goodbye, Sharapova through to second round

Roared on by his fans all dressed in gold Hewitt saved two consecutive match points at 4-5 in the fifth set, but eventually succumbed in a match spanning four hours.

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Fighting tooth and nail as only he knows how old warrior Lleyton Hewitt waved an emotional goodbye to Wimbledon after losing a dramatic five-set match to Finland's Jarkko Nieminen on Monday.

Thirteen years after beating Argentina's David Nalbandian to win the title, the 34-year-old, who will retire after next year's Australian Open, went toe to toe with fellow veteran Nieminen but went down 3-6 6-3 4-6 6-0 11-9.

Cheered by his fans dressed all in gold Hewitt saved two consecutive match points at 4-5 in the fifth set before succumbing in a match spanning four hours.

"I was always going to leave it all out there, everything I had in the tank. I certainly did that," the Australian, who has played 56 five-setters in grand slams during his career, told reporters. "I didn't leave any stone unturned preparing. In the end, obviously disappointing to lose.

"I would have loved to have played Novak (Djokovic) in the next round. But Jarkko is a tough competitor." Hewitt had never lost to 33-year-old Nieminen in five previous meetings and victory would have set up a Centre Court showdown with the defending champion. But it was not to be and Hewitt's final act on a Wimbledon lawn was to acknowledge the sympathetic applause of the Court Two crowd who fully appreciated his never-say-die attitude.

Hewitt said it had taken a while to sink in that he had played his last shot in anger at Wimbledon. "You try and suck it in as much as possible at the end of the match and that," he said. "I was always serving to stay in the match. It never entered my mind that this could be the last time you serve or play a game in the Championships." "So it's kind of a strange feeling in a lot of ways."

Hewitt, who also won the 2001 U.S. Open when he reigned supreme as world number one, may have been denied a final bow on Centre Court but he sneaked into the famous old arena on the eve of the tournament to reflect on the greatest day of his career.

"It's the home of tennis. I don't get the same feeling walking into any other grounds in the world, no other tennis court, no other complex, than I do here. I do get goosebumps walking into this place," he said. "One of the greatest things about winning this Championship is becoming a member of it. For me to be able to go in the member's locker room four weeks before Wimbledon, in there with some of the older members, sit down and have a cup of tea and a chat, it's a lot of fun." 

When Maria Sharapova miserably exited the French Open four weeks ago it was to a soundtrack of her coughing but the trademark scream was back at full volume on Monday when she blew past Briton Johanna Konta in the first round at Wimbledon.

Having returned to the United States to rest and recover from a virus that contributed to her fourth-round defeat by Czech Lucie Safarova, Sharapova looked revitalised as she triumphed 6-2 6-2 in the sunshine of Centre Court.

Konta, who switched allegiance from Australia three years ago, came into the match on a high after taking a couple of seeded scalps in Eastbourne last week but never looked close to derailing the fourth seed.

Sharapova has spent the last few weeks not overdoing things to ensure she fully recovered and getting back in the grass groove without the pressure of entering any of the warm-up tournaments.

Although her serve was a little shaky, she eased through the first set, giving the home fans little to bite on.


Picture courtesy AFP

Konta eventually loosened up, started unloading and briefly rallied with a break in the opening game of the second set. But Sharapova, one of the most competitive players on the circuit, immediately pumped up her own power -- and the grunt decibels -- and broke straight back.

From then on Konta, ranked 126 and facing a top five player for the first time in her career, struggled to deal with the strength and depth of Sharapova's ground strokes and started sending her own short and wide as the matched moved inexorably towards its expected straight-sets conclusion.

It is 11 years since the 17-year-old Sharapova pulled off one of the great Wimbledon shocks when she blew away defending champion Serena Williams in the final and though she has been at or around the top of the game ever since, she has reached one subsequent Wimbledon final, losing to Petra Kvitova in 2011.

"The first match of Wimbledon is never the easiest and especially against an opponent who has had a good few weeks and is a crowd favourite," Sharapova said.

"But I wanted to focus on myself as I haven't played for a couple of weeks.

"I returned really well today -- she served pretty hard, and I was able to get a bit of an advantage there."

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