Hewitt warms up with title win

Hewitt appeared in great touch to wrap up the match in 89 minutes, but the 12th-ranked Frenchman was clearly restricted in his movement and grimaced repeatedly when chasing down returns on a steamy day at Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club.

Monfils said in the lead up to the tournament he had struggled to recover from a knee injury in the wake of France's Davis Cup final loss to Serbia last month.

Ferrer triumphant
Top seed David Ferrer completed a perfect warm-up for the Australian Open with a surprisingly easy 6-3, 6-2 victory over David Nalbandian to win the Auckland Open title on Saturday.

Ferrer, the 2007 champion on the central Auckland courts, wasted little time against an error-prone Nalbandian to win in just 68 minutes.

Simon wins
France's Gilles Simon came through a second-set stutter to beat Serbian Viktor Troicki 7-5, 7-6 in an enthralling final of the Sydney International on Saturday.

The 26-year-old former world number six, who recovered from a 3-0 deficit at the start of the second set, continued his return from a knee injury with his eighth tour title, triumphing after two gripping 58-minute sets at the Sydney Olympic Park. Fourth seed Troicki, roared on by a large section of Serbian Sydneysiders, played his part in the entertaining contest but showed his inexperience with mistakes at key moments and ended up a ball of frustration.

Simon's fifth victory in five meetings with Troicki was a vindication of sorts after he was dropped for the deciding rubber against the 24-year-old in France's Davis Cup final defeat to Serbia last month.

Groth claims title
Australian number two Jarmila Groth claimed a major boost ahead of her home open with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over American Bethanie Mattek-Sands to win the Hobart International title.

Blustery conditions made serving a lottery but the Slovakian-born Groth, who beat Australia's number one Sam Stosur on her way to the last eight in Brisbane last week, battled her way through to her second career title in 73 minutes.