Hewitt wins first-rounder in Sydney

SYDNEY, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Sixth-seeded Lleyton Hewitt, a four-time winner of the event, notched a first-round victory Tuesday in the Medibank International tennis tournament in Sydney.

Hewitt won the Medibank International in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005, and took the first step back to the finals with a solid 6-3, 6-4 victory Tuesday over Nicolas Mahut. He next goes against Chris Guccione.

There were two upsets of seeded players Tuesday in Sydney. Second-seeded Tommy Robredo was knocked out in straight sets by Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-2 and No. 7 Paul-Henri Mathieu withdrew after suffering a left hamstring injury. That allowed Evgeny Korolev to advance.

Fifth-seeded Carlos Moya rallied over Stefan Koubek for a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 win. Moya is a three-time Sydney runner-up, including last year to James Blake and in 2004 to Hewitt.

Also collecting first-round victories Tuesday were Dmitry Tursunov, Steve Darcis, Ivo Minar and Andreas Seppi.