Feliciano Lopez cruises past Michael Berrer into the second round - Wimbledon Championships 2011
Forty fourth ranked Spanish competitor, Feliciano Lopez, had a brilliant beginning at the Wimbledon Championships, as he cleared the opening round by defeating unseeded German, Michael Berrer, on Monday afternoon.
The contest was played on the grass court of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, England, with Lopez wrapping up victory in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3, to dispose of Berrer from the Grand Slam tournament.
The Spaniard took one hour and forty eight minutes to get access to the second round of the tournament.
29-year-old Lopez has already defeated the German in singles encounter last year, when he outplayed him in straight sets 7-6(2), 7-5, in the round of 64 at Miami Masters. The Spaniard registered his 19th victory of the
running ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) season on Monday afternoon and improved his head-to-head record against Berrer to 2-0.
The German veteran hung in the game for a while before surrendering it to the hard-hitting Lopez in the end. Berrer dropped the opener early but posed some serious resistance to his opponent in the second set, only to suffer a
straight sets defeat in the third set.
Although Lopez delivered just 59 per cent of his first serve on target, the Spaniard fired 16 thudding aces in the game and secured 39 out of 44 first serve points en route to victory. His serve remained unbroken throughout the
contest as the bleak German didn’t craft a single break opportunity in the entire matchup. Lopez struck four out of nine break points to drive Berrer out of the Grand Slam tournament with the utmost ease.
Forty five winners from Lopez were far too good for the German rival, who registered just 21 winners to finish on the losing side in the end. Berrer conceded 11 unforced errors in the opener to assist a speedy start to the Spaniard,
who fully capitalised on it by firing five aces and one break point to seal the first set at 6-4.
Berrer hung in the second set till the end, without dropping serve but Lopez finally converted his second break opportunity in the twelfth game to clinch the second set at 7-5. He then went on to wind up victory in the third set,
as Berrer collapsed at 3-6, sending Lopez into the second round of Wimbledon Championships.
Lopez will square off against Rainer Schuttler of Germany in the second round clash, as the German was upset the 30th seed Thomaz Bellucci in the opening round of the tournament.
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