Lleyton Hewitt has suffered a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) defeat to Argentine tennis star Juan Martin del Potro in an exhibition match in La Plata.
The 25-year-old Del Potro, the world No. 5, was able to handle the 32-year-old Hewitt, a former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam winner, before 15,000 tennis fans at the Gimnasia y Esgrima soccer club’s stadium on Saturday.
Fans expressed their support for Del Potro even though he decided not to play Davis Cup for Argentina next year.
Hewitt won the crowd’s applause throughout the event, especially when he took the field wearing a Gimnasia y Esgrima jersey with “Lleyton” on the back.
This was the last of a series of exhibition matches in Argentina that featured a farewell to Argentine tennis player David Nalbandian, matches pitting Spain’s Rafael Nadal against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, and a match featuring Venus Williams against Serena Williams.