Hewitt exits early in Atlanta

Third seed Lleyton Hewitt has fallen victim to little-known Slovak Lukas Lacko in the second round of the Atlanta Tennis Championships in Georgia. Lacko stunned the Australian with five breaks of serve to win 6-4, 6-2 and advance into his fifth quarter-final of the season.Hewitt, who received a bye in the first round and won the Halle title last month, now stands 20-9 this campaign.Top seed Andy Roddick resumed where he left off nearly a decade ago, a 6-1, 6-7 (7-1), 6-3 win over Rajeev Ram putting him on the winners list nine years after his last appearance at the venue.The world number nine, Roddick benefited from a first-round bye to start his week and took full advantage in a match where he never dropped serve against a lowly opponent.Roddick claimed the first title of his career in the city at the start of the decade (2001) when he won the last edition of the Atlanta tournament at age 19, beating Xavier Malisse.The tournament was killed off in 2001 but came back to life for this season after officials bought the sanction of the bankrupt Indianapolis event.Roddick will face re-run of that long-ago final in the quarter-final stage at this edition when he plays Xavier Malisse.

 

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