Leyton Hewitt has conceded that his five-set defeat to Andreas Seppi in the first round of the Australian Open earlier today was "tough" to take.

The 32-year-old, who was playing in front of a home crowd, lost the first two sets, but then rallied to force the match into a decider.

However, he lost that set 7-5, meaning that he has fallen at the first hurdle of the tournament in Melbourne for the second year in succession.

"Every Grand Slam loss is tough. There's no easy ones. Obviously if you come close to winning, even though it's a first-round match, it's still frustrating. I had to try to keep fighting, find a way. That was the only way out of it. I ended up one point from coming back from two sets," the former world number one told reporters.

Hewitt's achieved his best run at the Aussie Open back in 2005, when he lost to Marat Safin in the final.