Feliciano Lopez labours hard to down John Isner in the third round – Australian Open 2012
A stunning performance from the Spanish world number 19, Feliciano Lopez, ousted the 17th ranked American, John Isner, from the third round of the Grand Slam Down Under on Friday afternoon. The nail-biting five-setter took three hours and 26 minutes
to conclude, with the 18th seed Spaniard coming out as the winner at 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-7(0), 6-1.
Huge crowd at the Hisense Arena in Melbourne Park, Australia, witnessed one of the finest displays of sheer determination and resilience from the two Top-20 players. Both contestants stretched each other to their limits, extending the contest into five enthralling
sets. Momentum kept swinging throughout the match and it was extremely hard to predict the winner until the end.
The see-saw battle between Lopez and Isner provided tremendous entertainment to the Aussie crowd and every winner was cheered with joy. Both contestants kept focus throughout the match and exchanged a total of 119 winners in the matchup. Lopez registered
six break points in the contest, with Isner striking merely one, something which cost the match to the American 16th seed in the end.
Holding the serve in the opening two games, Lopez finally nailed the first break point of the day in the fifth game to lead 3-2. He continued with his aggressive game play to earn another serve break in the ninth game, closing out the first set at 6-3.
The Spaniard carried on with his belligerence in the next and broke the American serve once again in the eighth game. Isner finally stung his only break point of the match in the next game to halt the winning momentum of his opponent and dragged the match
into a tie breaker round. Lopez crumbled in the decider and Isner took advantage to close out the second set at 7-6(3).
One break point conversion in the third game proved sufficient for Lopez to win the set and break into a 2-1 lead in the competition. No break points were witnessed in the following set and again it was Isner who reigned supreme in the tie-breaker round,
bringing the match score to 2-2.
Lopez launched a series of onslaughts in the final set, breaking Isner’s serve in fourth and sixth game to earn a breadstick at 6-1. He will play against his fellow compatriot, world number two, Rafael Nadal, in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
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