Australian Open: Lleyton Hewitt, Sam Groth win through in doubles second round

Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth have kept their Australian Open farewell tour rolling with victory in the first round of the doubles at Melbourne Park.

The pair needed just over an hour to defeat Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin and Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3 6-3.

Hewitt retired from tennis after his final Australian Open singles campaign in 2016, although the former world No.1 returned to play doubles that year at the Davis Cup and Wimbledon.

The 36-year-old has since revived his partnership with Groth, whose singles career came to an end when he lost to American Taylor Fritz in last week's Australian Open qualifying.

"It's fun to come out and play in Show Court 2 and play with Grothy in his last Australian Open," Hewitt said.

"We were pumped up to be out there again and had a lot of fun. Played a lot of big Davis Cup matches. It's nice to be going out and playing with him."

The 30-year-old Groth will also play mixed doubles with Samantha Stosur.

Their campaign will begin on Friday night when they face Australian pair Matt Reid and Priscilla Hon.