A vintage Lleyton Hewitt fightback has come up short as the Australian veteran fell in five sets to Polish 15th seed Jerzy Janowicz at Wimbledon.

The 33-year-old saved two match points and rallied from two sets behind only to suffer a 7-5 6-4 6-7 (9-7) 4-6 6-3 second-round loss on Friday.

Hewitt, the 2002 champion, missed a chance to reach the third round for the 10th time and there are doubts as to whether he will return to the All England Club next year.

It came just a day after teenager Nick Kyrgios fought back from two sets down to beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet, saving nine match points.

Kyrgios is now the last Australian standing in singles after six of seven fell in the second round.

Hewitt trailed 7-5 4-4 when play resumed on Friday after rain had suspended play on Thursday evening.

As with the first session, the 2002 champion struggled to match the explosive power of Janowicz, a semi-finalist last year.

Hewitt dropped serve in the first game of the resumption before Janowicz reeled off a string of huge aces to take a two-set lead.

Hewitt had to fight hard just to keep things on serve in the third set and a gutsy effort to hold at 4-3 brought out this first show of emotion as he tried to pump himself up.

He earned three break points in the next game but couldn’t convert any, as Janowicz smacked a beautiful backhand winner down the line to level at 4-4.

Hewitt looked destined for a straight-sets defeat but saved two match points in the tiebreak, one courtesy of a Janowicz double-fault and another a with brave backhand winner down the line.

He then converted his second set point, raising his arms and urging the crowd to get behind him.

Successive double-faults by Janowicz gave Hewitt a sniff of a break midway through the fourth set and took his chance.

Hewitt brought up two set points with a pair of phenomenal drop shots, converting the second to level the match when Janowicz netted a forehand.

The Australian had all the momentum heading into a deciding set but Janowicz wrestled it back with two decisive breaks and the Pole served for the match at 5-1.

In typical never-say-die fashion, Hewitt broke back once again but a second break proved a bridge too far as Janowicz comfortably served it out.