ROTTERDAM (AFP) - Lleyton Hewitt blew a third-set match point and paid the price as Andreas Seppi turned the tables with a winning tie-breaker to advance 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/4) at the Rotterdam Open on Wednesday.
Hewitt, a 2004 champion at the Ahoy arena whose number 21 ranking is a huge step away from his one-time top status in the game, had only himself to blame after losing to the Italian in just under three hours.
Italy's Seppi, 42nd in the world and without a career title, sent Hewitt to the scrapheap alongside sixth seed Andy Murray.
Dutch wild card Robin Haase brought the victory celebrations to an end for Andy Murray, knocking out the sixth-seeded Scot 7-5, 6-3 in a battle of 20-year-olds.
Hewitt exits his first European indoor event in a year regretting what might have been. "It was tight and I should have won," said the player who turns 27 on Sunday.
"It's frustrating to have chances and not take them. If you can get out of the first round you have chances to build on that.
"But this is my only indoor (winter) event, so it's not like I need indoor matches. I didn't come here expecting a whole heap."
Murray's loss just three days after lifting his second title of the season at Marseille, left him with a pair of trophys and just as many first-round exits this roller-coaster season.
"I was not happy with my returns," said Murray, who regained a Top ten place only days ago. "The court here is much slower than in Marseille.
"And the rallies last for an average of nine or ten shots instead of four or five like last week. But I wasn't tired physically or mentally coming in, I felt decent."
Haas, ranked 94th, left the Scot on a 10-2 record since January.
Murray, who also won a title during the first week of the year at Doha before crashing out in his first match at the Australian Open to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, was unable maintain the momentum he had built up last week in France.
Haase, a 2005 junior Wimbledon finalist, claimed the first set on his third opportunity and kept his nose ahead in the second. The home favourite advanced on his first match point, a winner to the far corner.
Murray said that he faced four more matches in as many days had he gone through to the Rotterdam final.
"Five in a row is tough two weeks in a row.
"I'll got home now and relax a few days before trying to train outdoors for Dubai and the American swing at Indian Wells and Miami.
"So far this year has been pretty good. If I have a few more months like this it will definitely help me stay in the Top ten."
Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili became the first into the quarter-finals as he beat France's Nicolas Mahut 6-2, 7-6 (9/7).
