Murray Into Wimbledon 2nd Week, Roddick Crashes Out
Andy Murray is the first of the big 4 mens seeds to make it through to the second week of Wimbledon while Andy Roddick crashes out, beaten by Feliciano Lopez.
On a rainy Wimbledon day, Lopez showed a set of skills that suggest that he will reach alot higher than his current world ranking of 44.
Both players have enormous serves and both Roddick and Lopez struggled to break each other in the first two sets, forcing both to go to tie-breaks. Lopez managed to take advantage on both occasions.
In the 3rd and deciding set it was Roddicks unforced errors that proved to be the turning point in the match. Lopez running out a 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 victory.
The 4th Seed Andy Murray survived the rainy afternoon by playing under the confines of the centre court roof, against the talented and experienced Croat, Ivan Ljubicic.
Ljubicic’s huge serve asked constant questions of Murray, although one of the best returners on the mens circuit was always going to have a chance of breaking.
Ljubicic was the first to break in the first set though, Murray’s serve letting him down and handing the initiative to Ljubicic.
However, the Croat then had serving problems of his own giving away 2 double faults and allowing the instant break back. Murray then managed to keep the initiative and a huge forehand secured the first set.
Murray again had serving problems at the start of the 2nd set, double faulting on break point to give Ljubicic the advantage which he never relinquished, winning the set 6-4.
Murray then seemed to step up another gear in the 3rd set though, just as it looked like Ljubicic might push him all the way he played on a different level from his opponent.
Suddenly he was in the zone playing some great tennis and rampaged away to a 6-1 set win that belied the difficulties that were present in the first 2 sets.
The fourth set was more competitive with Ivan Ljubicic at one point hitting a 139mph service, but ultimately it was Murray who had the greater range of shot making, including an audacious shot through his legs. To the delight of the British crowd on centre court their man claimed the 3rd set 7-6.
Murray will now play the 17th seed, Richard Gasquet, bringing back memories of an epic Wimbledon 5 set battle a few years ago between the two players. As the matches get harder it will be interesting to see how Murray can react in his mission to claim his first Grand Slam title.
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