Tennis-Hewitt waves goodbye after five-set thriller

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - Fighting tooth and nail as only he knows how old warrior Lleyton Hewitt waved an emotional goodbye to Wimbledon after losing a five-set thriller to Finland's Jarkko Nieminen on Monday. Thirteen years after beating Argentina's David Nalbandian to win the title, the 34-year-old, who will retire after next year's Australian Open, went toe to toe with fellow veteran Nieminen but went down 3-6 6-3 4-6 6-0 11-9. Roared on by his fans all dressed in gold Hewitt saved two consecutive match points at 4-5 in the fifth set, but eventually succumbed in a match spanning four hours. It was the former world number one Australian's 56th five-setter in a superb grand slam career in which he also beat Pete Sampras to win the 2001 U.S. Open. (Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)