Andy Murray vs. Feliciano Lopez – Quarterfinal Preview: Wimbledon Championships 2011
Race to glory at the Wimbledon Championships enters its final stages, with the quarter-final draws beginning on Wednesday, at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, England. The world number four, Andy
Murray of Great Britain, plays the unseeded Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez in the quarter-final for a place in the semis of the Grand Slam tournament.
The much awaited contest will be played on the Centre Court on Wednesday afternoon, with the fourth seeded Briton being the hot favourite for the match. Murray has been in brilliant form throughout the tournament, devastating every
opponent he faced en route to the quarter-final. He registered a comprehensive straight sets victory over the 17th seed Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, in the fourth round clash to reach the final eight of the star-studded field at Wimbledon. Murray
toiled a bit in the opening set but cruised through the next two sets to take the final scores to 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-2, taking down Gasquet to book a date with Lopez in the quarter-finals.
Ranked at number 44 in the world, Lopez has been in tremendous form in this year’s edition of Wimbledon as well. The Spaniard registered an epic win over the Pole qualifier, Lukasz Kubot, in the fourth round, recovering from being
two sets down to rally past him to reach the quarter-final round of Wimbledon for the third time. He battled extremely hard to take down the Pole in the five-set thriller 3-6, 6-7(5), 7-6(7), 7-5, 7-5, to meet the fourth seed Murray in the round of eight.
The British number one, Murray is running a four-match winning streak against Lopez in singles matchups, leading the all-time head-to-head series to 4-0. These two men faced each other last time in 2010 at Valencia, where Murray
beat the Spaniard in straight sets 6-3, 7-6(1) in the round of 32 of the tournament. Lopez has just won one set in the four matches he played against the Briton, suffering defeats in straight sets on three occurrences.
Murray has reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon Championships twice before, including the last edition of the Grand Slam as well. He was beaten by the world number one, Rafael Nadal in straight sets, 6–4, 7–6 (6), 6–4, in the semi-final
last time but he certainly desires to end his dry run at the Grand Slam tournaments this time round.
The fourth seed Briton reached the final of the first Grand Slam event of the year, the Australian Open, where he was beaten by the world number two, Novak Djokovic. Murray also made it to the semi-finals of the French Open earlier
this month, only to be defeated by Nadal. However, his Grand Slam campaigns this season depict his sublime form and make him one of the strongest competitors for the Wimbledon crown.
Lopez stands a weak chance against the home favourite Murray in the Wednesday’s matchup but his abilities are not to be underestimated. On the paper, Murray clearly the hot favourite for winning the quarter-final clash but Lopez
will certainly give him a tough time before submitting the contest.
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