Hewitt ousts Haas in Beijing

Published January 13, 2015

In an all-over-30 affair on Monday, former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt humbled one-time No. 2 Tommy Haas in opening-round action at the $2.315 million China Open tennis event.

The 32-year-old wild card Hewitt upended the seventh-seeded 35-year-old Haas 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 on the hardcourts at the National Tennis Center.

Also on Day 1, Italian Fabio Fognini held off Spaniard Tommy Robredo, the 2007 Beijing runner-up, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3; German Philipp Kohlschreiber edged out Spain's Albert Montanes 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4); Aussie Bernard Tomic beat Chinese wild card Ze Zhang 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; and Spanish qualifier Roberto Bautista Agut blitzed Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-2. Fognini will face the two-time Grand Slam winner Hewitt in the second round.

The top-six seeds, including reigning champion and three-time winner Novak Djokovic and 2005 titlist Rafael Nadal, will take to the courts here on Tuesday. The current world No. 1 Djokovic will meet Czech Lukas Rosol, while the former top-ranked Nadal will encounter Colombian qualifier Santiago Giraldo.

Also seeing action on Day 2 will be French Open runner-up David Ferrer, former Wimbledon finalist, 2011 Beijing champ and last week's Bangkok runner-up Tomas Berdych, Richard Gasquet, and Stan Wawrinka.

The 2013 Beijing titlist will earn $557,100.

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