Lleyton Hewitt has lost his first-round match at the Shanghai Masters, going down to Italian Andreas Seppi in straight sets.
The Australian wildcard grabbed an early break to lead 3-1 but was then totally outplayed by the world No.22 to lose 6-4 6-2 in just 81 minutes on Tuesday.
Hewitt had beaten the 29-year-old in their two previous meetings but Seppi relied on a dominant first serve and only needed to convert four of his 10 break-point opportunities to seal the emphatic victory.
At the China Open last week in Beijing, Hewitt suffered a heavy defeat 6-0 6-2 to another Italian, Fabio Fognini, in the second round.
Seppi will next face Roger Federer, who enjoyed a first-round bye.
Frenchman Richard Gasquet lost his first-round encounter to Vasek Pospisil as organisers scrambled to keep the storm-hit tournament on track.
The tame 6-3 6-4 defeat for the ninth seed deals a heavy blow to his hopes of reaching next month’s World Tour Finals in London, which feature the season’s top eight players. Gasquet is currently ninth in the Race to London.
Canada’s Pospisil, ranked 43rd in the world, broke Gasquet in the fourth game of the first set and again at the start of the second in a match lasting 69 minutes, with the Frenchman unable to earn a single break point.
Persistent rain – the lingering effects of Typhoon Fitow – forced matches onto indoor courts at the Qizhong Tennis Center, with tournament chiefs attempting to make up for lost match time the previous day.
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The wet weather meant a number of changes to the schedule throughout the day, with doubles matches postponed in an effort to complete all the first round matches before the likes of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal make their entrance.
The top eight seeds – including Federer, seeded five – all have a bye into the second round.
There were also wins on Tuesday for Spanish pair Feliciano Lopez and Tommy Robredo, Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber, Kevin Anderson of South Africa, and Italy’s Fabio Fognini.
