Safin Suffers Lopez Lashing
Tennis: Men: Marat Safin rediscovered his hatred of grass today as he was dumped out of Wimbledon in straights sets by Feliciano Lopez.
Marat Safin rediscovered his hatred of grass today as he was dumped out of Wimbledon in straight sets by Feliciano Lopez.
The Russian had won through the battle of the big hitters against Mark Philippoussis in the last round but was out-played - and out-aced - here.
Despite claiming he "hated" grass after his first round exit last year, Safin's superb form in the early stages saw him tipped as an outside bet for the title.
The Australian Open champion had not lost a set in the first two rounds but had no answer to an inspired Lopez who ran out a 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 winner in just one hour 48 minutes.
Lopez will play either 10th seed Mario Ancic or French teenager Gael Monfils in the fourth round.
The Spaniard had never failed to reach the third round in three appearances at the All England Club and quickly had Safin showing signs of frustration - the Russian blasting a ball out of court after wasting two break points and receiving a warning from the umpire for his trouble.
Safin had won the last meeting between the pair but dropped the opening set and squandered two more break points in the second game of the second set.
No more chances were forthcoming and a tie-break was required to decide the outcome. Lopez raced into an early 3-0 lead and, after being pegged back by Safin, played a superb low sliced approach to again earn the mini-break.
This time he held on to the advantage to take the set 7-6 (7-4) and a two-set lead.
Safin had never come back from 2-0 down in his career and his body language suggested there was little chance of changing that statistic today.
Sure enough the 25-year-old was broken to love, throwing in a double fault for good measure, in the sixth game to leave Lopez in sight of victory.
The No26 seed had served superbly throughout the match and maintained that form to clinch a well-deserved victory.
Other results from today
No3 seed Lleyton Hewitt was made to work unexpectedly hard by unseeded American Justin Gimelstob before reaching the fourth round for the fourth time in six years, winning 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 7-5.
Doubles
Jan Hernych (Cze) and Tomas Zib (Cze) bt Jiri Novak (Cze) and Petr Pala (Cze) 6-6, 7-6(7-4), 7-6(9-7), 4-6, 6-3.
The Russian had won through the battle of the big hitters against Mark Philippoussis in the last round but was out-played - and out-aced - here.
Despite claiming he "hated" grass after his first round exit last year, Safin's superb form in the early stages saw him tipped as an outside bet for the title.
The Australian Open champion had not lost a set in the first two rounds but had no answer to an inspired Lopez who ran out a 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 winner in just one hour 48 minutes.
Lopez will play either 10th seed Mario Ancic or French teenager Gael Monfils in the fourth round.
The Spaniard had never failed to reach the third round in three appearances at the All England Club and quickly had Safin showing signs of frustration - the Russian blasting a ball out of court after wasting two break points and receiving a warning from the umpire for his trouble.
Safin had won the last meeting between the pair but dropped the opening set and squandered two more break points in the second game of the second set.
No more chances were forthcoming and a tie-break was required to decide the outcome. Lopez raced into an early 3-0 lead and, after being pegged back by Safin, played a superb low sliced approach to again earn the mini-break.
This time he held on to the advantage to take the set 7-6 (7-4) and a two-set lead.
Safin had never come back from 2-0 down in his career and his body language suggested there was little chance of changing that statistic today.
Sure enough the 25-year-old was broken to love, throwing in a double fault for good measure, in the sixth game to leave Lopez in sight of victory.
The No26 seed had served superbly throughout the match and maintained that form to clinch a well-deserved victory.
Other results from today
No3 seed Lleyton Hewitt was made to work unexpectedly hard by unseeded American Justin Gimelstob before reaching the fourth round for the fourth time in six years, winning 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 7-5.
Doubles
Jan Hernych (Cze) and Tomas Zib (Cze) bt Jiri Novak (Cze) and Petr Pala (Cze) 6-6, 7-6(7-4), 7-6(9-7), 4-6, 6-3.
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