ADELAIDE, Australia, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Fourth-seeded Lleyton Hewitt, playing in his hometown, was eliminated Thursday from the Adelaide International tennis tournament in Australia.
Hewitt won his first set but dropped a 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 decision to Russian Igor Kunitsyn and failed to advance out of round-robin play in the 32-player event.
Second-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet needed three sets to qualify for Friday's quarterfinals, topping Canadian Frank Dancevic 7-5, 5-7, 6-3. Gasquet next meets Australian Chris Guccione, who upset sixth-seed Frenchman Arnaud Clement 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5).
Eighth-seeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu was also knocked out, with Argentine Juan Martin del Potro taking a 7-6 (7-3), 0-6, 6-3 match from him.
Frenchman Gilles Simon, the seventh-seed, advanced when defending tournament champion Florent Serra, also from France, retired with a stomach problem with the third set tied at 1-1. And American Vincent Spadea beat Russian Evgeny Korolev 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) to earn a quarterfinal berth.
In addition to the Gasquet-Guccione match Friday, top-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic plays American Paul Goldstein, Spadea is paired with Swede Joachim Johansson and del Potro meets Kunitsyn in the quarterfinals.
