Feliciano Lopez dumps Carlos Berlocq in the quarter-final – US Men’s Clay Court Championship 2012
Third seed, Feliciano Lopez of Spain, advanced to the last four, after his opponent, Carlos Berlocq of Argentina, quit the contest with a left calf injury in the quarter-final at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston
on Friday. Lopez was leading 6-4, 2-2 when the sixth seed, Berlocq, decided to forfeit the match. It lasted for just an hour and 17 minutes.
Starting the encounter steadily, the Spaniard and Berlocq held their serve in the first eight games, taking the score to 4-4. At that moment, the Argentinean started to face some pain in his left calf. He managed to win just a
couple of points in the next two games, losing it 4-6.
Lopez, who is known for smashing high number of aces, pounded five of them in the first set. The Spaniard had a low first serve percentage at 47 but succeeded in converting 12 of the 15 of them into points. He did well on Berlocq’s
second deliveries, winning five of the nine points on them. Lopez saved all the three break points he faced and converted the only one he received in the opener.
Berlocq was being continuously troubled due to the calf injury but he decided to continue with the match. The Argentinean managed to hold his opening two serves, taking the score to 2-1 in his own favour. However, the pain increased
and he could not win even a single point in the next game, evening it out at 2-2. When Berlocq lost two consecutive points on his following serve, the Argentinean understood that he would not be able to continue and opted out of the contest.
Lopez banged in two aces and grabbed eight of the nine points on his serve, all four on the first and four of the five on second deliveries. On the other hand, Berlocq did not hit any ace and committed one double fault. Neither
of the two players created any break opportunity in the second set.
Ranked 15th in the world, Lopez is pitted against second seed, John Isner, in the semi-final. The home favourite beat compatriot, Ryan Sweeting, in straight sets 7-6(1), 7-6(4) in the previous match.
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