"Lleyton. That's it, the 29-year-old American told his opponent.
He draped his towel over this right shoulder, limped across to umpire Enric Molina, shook his hand, picked up his bag and disappeared down the tunnel at Rod Laver Arena, a 3-6 6-3 6-4 loser.
The pair were expected to bash each other across the Melbourne Park centre court until the small hours on Friday.
Instead, an awkward off-balance lunge by Roddick early in the second set when he slowly rolled over on his right ankle effectively ended the contest.
The 2003 US Open champion appeared dejected at the end of the game and called for the trainer, took a medical time out, returned and battled for another 16 games, all the while Hewitt was doing his best to run him off the court.
The Rod Laver Arena crowd, so used to cheering on their 'Aussie battler' Hewitt, rose to their feet to show Roddick the respect they felt he deserved.
Hewitt will now meet big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic in the third round.
Results: Julien Benneteau (France) beat 12-Gilles Simon (France) 7-5 7-6(8) 1-6 3-6 6-2; Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) beat 15-Andy Roddick (U.S.) 3-6
6-3 6-4 (Roddick retired); 14-Gael Monfils (France) beat Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil) 2-6 6-0 6-4 6-2; Mikhail Kukushkin (Kazakhstan) beat 19-Viktor Troicki (Serbia) 5-7 6-4 6-2 4-6 6-3; 24-Kei Nishikori (Japan) beat Matthew Ebden (Australia) 3-6 1-6 6-4 6-1 6-1; 4-Andy Murray (Britain) beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France) 6-1 6-4 6-4; 17-Richard Gasquet (France) beat Andrey Golubev (Kazakhstan) 6-4 6-2 3-0 (Golubev retired); 5-David Ferrer (Spain) beat Ryan Sweeting (U.S.) 6-7(4) 6-2 3-6 6-2 6-3; Nicolas Mahut (France) beat Tatsuma Ito (Japan) 1-6 7-6(6) 6-2 6-2; Frederico Gil (Portugal) beat 26-Marcel Granollers (Spain) 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-3; 9-Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) beat James Duckworth (Australia) 3-6 6-2 7-6(5) 6-4; 1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Santiago Giraldo (Colombia) 6-3 6-2 6-1; 6-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) beat Ricardo Mello (Brazil) 7-5 6-4 6-4; Michael Llodra (France) beat 32-Alex Bogomolov Jr. (Russia) 6-1 6-3 4-6 5-7 6-4; 23-Milos Raonic (Canada) beat Philipp Petzschner (Germany) 6-4 5-7 6-2 7-5; 27-Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) beat Pablo Andujar (Spain) 6-4 6-4 6-3
