Czech Republic beat Australia in Hopman Cup

Lleyton Hewitt lost just weeks away from his retirement as Czech Republic beat the Australia Gold team at the Hopman Cup mixed teams event yesterday.

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.

The Czech team won the later mixed doubles 6-2, 7-5 to sweep the match 3-0.

"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. "Hopefully I can come out for the rest of the week now and get better from here to get ready for the rest of the summer." - AP