MELBOURNE, Australia - Barbara Schett said goodbye to tennis on Thursday at the Australian Open. The 28-year-old from Austria, who announced in October that she would retire from professional competition following the Australian Open, fell to No.26 seed Daniela Hantuchova, 64 60, in the second round in Melbourne.

Schett will still be in Melbourne a little longer as she is taking part in the mixed doubles competition, but said her final singles match was definitely emotional when it got to match point: "It was not very emotional until she had match point, then suddenly I had tears in my eyes. I was like, 'Oh, my God. Where does that come from now?'

"I knew that sooner or later I was going to realize, 'Okay, this is going to be the last point of my career. It's been what I've been doing for all my life. I just suddenly realized that and it was very emotional."

Schett has been a fixture in the women's game for more than a decade, making her Sony Ericsson WTA Tour main draw debut in 1991 and winning her three career singles titles at Palermo in 1996, Maria Lankowitz in 1997 and Klagenfurt in 2000. She reached a career-high ranking of No.7 in 1999. She also won 10 Tour doubles titles and was a member of the Austrian Fed Cup team throughout her career.

Schett decided to retire from professional tennis because she felt she wasn't making enough improvement with her game to continue and decided she wanted to play her final match at one of her favorite venues.

"It was a clear decision. Even if I played really well here. I would have stayed with that decision. And I played Australia because it was my favorite tournament."

After she departs Melbourne for the final time as a player, Schett said she plans on taking some time off and evaluate what to do next: "I'm still going to be involved in tennis is some kind of a way. Maybe like working a a tournament in Australia, in Linz, or maybe do some commentating.

"I'm going to see what options I have and what I'm interested in. But I'm definitely going to stay involved in tennis."