Lleyton Hewitt has lost his first-round match at the Shanghai Masters, going down to Italian Andreas Seppi in straight sets.

The Australian wildcard grabbed an early break to lead 3-1 but was then totally outplayed by the world No.22 to lose 6-4 6-2 in just 81 minutes on Tuesday.

Hewitt had beaten the 29-year-old in their two previous meetings but Seppi relied on a dominant first serve and only needed to convert four of his 10 break-point opportunities to seal the emphatic victory.

At the China Open last week in Beijing, Hewitt suffered a heavy defeat 6-0 6-2 to another Italian, Fabio Fognini, in the second round.

Seppi will next face Roger Federer, who enjoyed a first-round bye.