LONDON: Three-time finalist Andy Roddick crashed out of Wimbledon in the third round on Friday as the American was beaten 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 by Spain’s Feliciano Lopez.
Roddick had won all seven of his previous seven meetings with Lopez, but the last of those encounters on grass at Queen’s earlier this month suggested the eighth seed wouldn’t have it all his own way on Centre Court.
Roddick, beaten by Roger Federer in an epic 2009 final, has now failed to get past the fourth round in three of his last four visits to Wimbledon.
Meanwhile, second seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia was knocked out of Wimbledon on Friday, losing in the third round to Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2, 6-3.
Pironkova, the 32nd seed and a semifinalist in 2010 where she lost to the Russian, next faces either five-time winner Venus Williams or Spain’s Maria Jose Marrinez Sanchez for a place in the quarterfinals. (Agencies)