MELBOURNE: Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt bowed out of tennis on Thursday when he was beaten by Spain's David Ferrer in the second round of the Australian Open, his final tournament before retiring.

A partisan home crowd at Rod Laver Arena watched Ferrer, the Spanish eighth seed, dominate Hewitt 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 to send the two-time Grand Slam-winner into retirement.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2016