Hewitt crashes out

I felt like I was hitting the ball well but I just didn't take my chances

A dejected Lleyton Hewitt

More reaction

Karlovic: the quiet assassin

The match as it happened

Photos from Hewitt's defeat

Ivo Karlovic staged one of Wimbledon's biggest-ever upsets as he stunned defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in the first round.

The 6ft 10in Croatian, ranked 203 in the world, lost the first set and the Australian top seed appeared to be on his way to an easy win.

But he dug deep, and took the second on a tie-break, before blitzing the out-of-sorts Hewitt in the third and fourth sets to wrap up a 1-6 7-6 6-3 6-4 win.

Hewitt became the first defending Wimbledon men's champion since tennis turned professional in 1968 to lose in the first round.

In fact, only once before in the tournament's 126-year history, had a men's champion lost in the opening round when in 1967 Manuel Santana was beaten by Charlie Pasarell.

Hewitt picked up another unwanted record as he became only the third defending champion to lose in the first round of a Grand Slam, after Boris Becker in the 1997 Australian Open and Pat Rafter in the 1999 US Open.

FACTS: HEWITT V KARLOVIC

Age:
Hewitt: 22
Karlovic: 24

Titles:
Hewitt: 19
Karlovic: 0

Grand Slam win-loss:
Hewitt: 52-19
Karlovic: 1-0

Career earnings (to 2003)
Hewitt: $10,862,801
Karlovic: $37,387

Highest world ranking:
Hewitt: 1
Karlovic: 175

Other SW19 shockers

The fiery Australian's form coming into the tournament had been a little shaky.

But few would have predicted 24-year-old Karlovic's extraordinary victory in his first-ever Grand Slam match.

An unknown qualifier, Karlovic seemed down and out when he lost the first set in just 19 minutes.

But with Hewitt making an increasing number of errors and persistently opting to lob without success, Centre Court was amazed as the huge Croat blasted his way back into the match.

He sent down 18 aces on his way to securing his astonishing victory in two hours 24 minutes.

Have Your Say
Wimbledon's biggest upset?

It was only his 11th career match at full Tour level.

Hewitt's defeat opens up the top half of the Wimbledon draw, and may boost the hopes of Britain's Greg Rusedski.

If Rusedski can make it past fifth seed Andy Roddick in the second round, Thailand's 12th seed Paradorn Srichaphan would be the biggest name between him and the semi-finals.

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