BRISBANE, Australia — Lleyton Hewitt lost just weeks away from his retirement as Czech Republic beat the Australia Gold team at the Hopman Cup mixed teams event Sunday.
Jiri Vesely defeated Hewitt, who will retire after the Australian Open, 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-4 before Karolina Pliskova came from 3-1 down in the second set to beat Jarmila Wolfe Gajdosova 7-5, 6-3 at Perth, Western Australia.
It gave the Czechs a winning 2-0 edge ahead of the mixed doubles.
"Jiri is a quality player and deserved to win, but it was just good to come out here for the first game of the year and get a tough match," Hewitt said.