Hewitt makes successful return

Lleyton Hewitt returned from a five-month injury layoff to beat Nicolas Keifer 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-2 on Monday and keep Australia alive in its Hopman Cup match against Germany.

Lleyton Hewitt returned from a five-month injury layoff to beat Nicolas Keifer 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-2 on Monday and keep Australia alive in its Hopman Cup match against Germany. In the opening women's singles, Sabine Lisicki defeated Casey Dellacqua, coming from a service break down in the deciding set to win 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 and give Germany a 1-0 lead.

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Hewitt and Dellacqua played Keifer and Lisicki in mixed doubles later on Monday to determine the winner of the Group A match. "It's great to be back," said Hewitt, whose last match was a second-round loss to Rafael Nadal at the Beijing Olympics in August. Hewitt was sidelined by a chronic hip injury after Beijing and later underwent surgery.

Hewitt said he had trouble early on Monday getting his rhythm. "He's (Keifer) a great all-court player, and it was hard to get a read," Hewitt said. "It was a matter of me hanging in there and weathering the storm."

Dellacqua, playing her first match since being sidelined last September by a shoulder injury, served for the match at 5-4 in the third but lost 12 of the last 13 points and had 33 unforced errors overall.

The U.S, Australia, Germany and Slovakia are playing in Group A while Russia, France, Italy and Taiwan are in Group B. The winners of each group play in the final on Friday.