Spain's David Ferrer ended an era in Australian tennis by sending former world number one Lleyton Hewitt into retirement with a 6-2 6-4 6-4 victory in their second round clash at the Australian Open on Thursday.
World number eight Ferrer was in no mood for sentimentality to give his 34-year-old opponent a fairytale finish to his last tournament as he clinched the crucial points, especially when Hewitt's periodic fightbacks brought the crowd into the match.
Ferrer broke Hewitt twice in the first set after some early typically pugnacious defence and counter-punching from Hewitt and then held serve in a marathon eighth game of the second set to consolidate an earlier break.
The 33-year-old Spaniard broke Hewitt early, then gave it back before he broke again in the seventh game, which was enough of an advantage to set up a third-round clash with Steve Johnson of the United States.
"Every time I play out here at Rod Laver Arena, it's like a second home," the 34-year-old Adelaide native told the fans after a typically combative display in which he cursed a line judge and mouthed off at the chair umpire.
"Playing for Australia has always been my biggest honour. I feel fortunate to finish here."
The scandal over alleged match-fixing in tennis that has clouded the tournament's opening days lingered on though with even Hewitt being quizzed about online speculation that some of his past matches had been implicated.
"Good luck taking me on with it," he said angrily at the post-match media conference, his three children sitting beside him. "It's disappointing. Throwing my name out there with it makes the whole thing a farce."
Andy Murray inflicted more pain on Australia as the British number one annihilated local favourite Sam Groth to reach the third round in Melbourne.
Murray has not lost an official match in 11 years against players from Down Under and that run never looked like ending here as the Scot won 6-0 6-4 6-1.
It took 43 minutes before Murray even conceded a game on Rod Laver Arena and he now goes through to face Portugal's Joao Sousa.
Groth, ranked 67th in the world and born in New South Wales, boasts the fastest recorded serve in the world at 263 km/hour and he announced ahead of the match he would go all-out attack with pace, power and serve and volley.
The strategy, however, proved disastrous as Murray won 31 out of Groth's 46 ventures to the net and broke his opponent seven times in total.
The first nine games were like a training manual in how not to play the Briton, a consummate counter-puncher, as Groth repeatedly blasted his serve, rushed to the net and invariably watched the ball loop over his head or dart past his feet.
There can be a tendency for players taking on a superior opponent to over-stretch themselves, pushing too hard for the early winner, and Groth was perhaps guilty as he snatched at his shots, particularly further forward where his volleying was erratic.
Thanks for the memories @lleytonhewitt Open and Out https://t.co/aTPURanzoq #HewBeauty pic.twitter.com/0tZU1FZCT1
— Australian Open (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2016
Murray, for his part, was only too happy to showcase his finest weapons as he flicked over four brilliant lobs and punched away countless passes to lead 5-0.
Undeterred, Groth flew into the net again and when Murray pinged another backhand down the line, the Australian shouted "too good" as his opponent closed out the set in just 29 minutes.
It was now less a matter of whether Groth could challenge than if he could compete as, much to the crowd's dismay, another service game came and went putting Murray up 3-0.
Finally, after the best part of three quarters of an hour, Groth held serve and even staged a comeback, breaking Murray and holding again to level at 4-4.
It temporarily seemed like there might be a game on but Murray instantly recovered his groove as another backhand pass helped him break at 5-4 and take a two-set advantage.
He broke in the first game of the third, with another perfectly placed lob of course, and again in the sixth game when Groth appeared so resigned to defeat he advised the umpire his own serve was out.
A nasty turn on his ankle in the final game left the Australian hobbling, but in truth he had been uncomfortable all afternoon as Murray wrapped up victory in a brisk hour and 31 minutes.
Elsewhere, Israel's world number 87 Dudi Sela succeeded where Rafa Nadal failed when he subdued Spain's Fernando Verdasco to reach the third round.
Verdasco, who stunned the 14-times grand slam champion in a five-set epic, won the opening set against the Israeli but faded to lose 4-6 6-3 6-3 7-6(4).
The Spaniard looked fatigued from his exploits against Nadal while the diminutive Sela, cheered on by a flag-waving contingent of fans, struggled with nerves near the end.
Verdasco's cause was not helped by consecutive double-faults in the fourth set tiebreak, gifting Sela a 5-2 lead.
He managed to save a match point but finished the job with a well-struck backhand return that Verdasco netted.
Thirteenth seed Milos Raonic continued to shape as a dark horse, beating Tommy Robredo 7-6(5) 7-6(5) 7-5.
