Wimbledon 2012: Australian bets crash out of men’s singles first round

Four Australian hopefuls have been bounced out of the opening rounds of the 2012 Wimbledon Championships with former champion Lleyton Hewitt, Bernard Tomic and Matthew Ebden all losing their matches on Tuesday. Marinko Matosevic lost to Belgian Xavier Malisse the day before.

For the first time since 1938, there won’t be any Australian man playing in the second round of the grasscourt Slam. Tomic, who reached as far as the quarterfinals last year as a qualifier, is expected to lose significant ranking points with the early defeat against Belgian wildcard entrant David Goffin.

Hewitt gained entry in the tournament as a wild card for the first time since his current ranking is in the two hundreds and would need the nod of the All England Club organizers to participate here – being a former champion (in 2002), the request was granted. Hewitt was defeated by 2011 semifinalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.