Lleyton Hewitt bows out in Queen's club farewell

Updated 15/06/2015 at 20:33 GMT

Four-times champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia lost 6-7 7-5 6-2 to South African Kevin Anderson on his 16th and final appearance at the Queen's club Wimbledon warm-up tournament on Monday.

Australia's Lleyton Hewitt looks dejected after his first round defeat

Image credit: Reuters

The 34-year-old Hewitt, a former Wimbledon champion, served for the match in the second set, but Anderson, the world number 17, fought back and will face Nick Kyrgios or Stan Wawrinka in the second round.

"This has been one of my favourite tournaments," Hewitt told reporters.

"I love the whole month in London. I'm going to have so many great memories of this tournament."

Tennis

Roger Federer given huge scare in round one at Halle

15/06/2015 at 20:37

Australia's Lleyton Hewitt in action

Image credit: Reuters

Third seed Milos Raonic of Canada beat Briton James Ward 5-7 6-3 6-2.

Ward, world number 109, took the first set before Raonic overpowered the home favourite to advance.

Elsewhere, Richard Gasquet claimed his 400th ATP tour win by beating Italian qualifier Simone Bolelli 6-1 6-2 in 56 minutes.

France's Richard Gasquet in action during the first round

Image credit: Reuters

Gasquet is the third Frenchman to reach that milestone in the Open era, after Yannick Noah (476 wins) and Fabrice Santoro (470).

In two all-Spanish matches, Fernando Verdasco saved three match points before beating Roberto Bautista Agut 3-6 7-5 7-6 and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez defeated Pablo Andujar 7-6 6-2.

The grass-court tournament is a major warm-up for Wimbledon and has been upgraded to an ATP 500 event with an additional 1 million euros in prize money.

British top seed Andy Murray plays qualifier Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan and Rafa Nadal faces Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov on Tuesday.

Results from the Queen's Men's Singles Round 1 matches on Monday

3-Milos Raonic (Canada) beat James Ward (Britain) 5-7 6-3 6-2

Kevin Anderson (South Africa) beat Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 6-7(5) 7-5 6-2

Richard Gasquet (France) beat Simone Bolelli (Italy) 6-1 6-2

Fernando Verdasco (Spain) beat Roberto Bautista (Spain) 3-6 7-5 7-6(4)

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) beat Pablo Andujar (Spain) 7-6(3) 6-2

Reuters

ATP Madrid