F
eliciano Lopez has broken Andy Roddick’s heart at his beloved Wimbledon by beating him in the third round in straight sets 7-6, 7-6, 6-4. Lopez was always going to be a huge danger for Roddick and with the American seemingly all out of luck lately it was a match up that was going to be favouring the more-in-form Spaniard (here).
With Lopez having more aces and a slightly higher first serve percentage than Roddick, Lopez was doing remarkably well, the question remained as to whether he was able to maintain his level.
In the eighth game Feli produced a beautiful down the line forehand from nowhere to give him triple break point. After multiple chances and a bad line call the second serve of Roddick gave Feliciano the chance he needed to take a 5-4 lead.
Roddick responded as Lopez struggled to find some solid controlled serves and found himself facing triple break point. Two great serves saved him briefly but a second serve with Lopez charging the net saw Roddick pass to get the set back on serve at 5-5.
Lopez pushed to a tiebreak and then quickly found his way to 6-2 with two points on serve, converting on the first chance.
With Lopez serving first in the second set Roddick found himself serving to 
stay in the set at 5-4. At 5-6 Roddick showed his courage as he defended a set point before showing great touch at the net to force another tie break.
Roddick flung himself across the grass but the cross court pass from Lopez gave him a mini break at 2-1. Lopez used his serve and volley game to overwhelm Roddick to find himself again at 6-2, serving for a two sets to love lead.
With Lopez still serving better than Roddick, with six more aces than the American, Lopez quickly got a break in the third set, forcing Roddick to serve to stay alive at 5-3.
It will be a huge disappointment for Roddick who hasn’t seemed to be able to catch a break in the last two seasons. Roddick always seems to walk away from Wimbledon heartbroken.
For Lopez it is hopefully a huge boost of confidence that if he plays consistently and stays focused he can challenge much higher ranked players. A game like Lopez’s always should have performed better on grass.
