Feliciano Lopez upsets Tomas Berdych in 3rd round – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2011
Feliciano Lopez, Spanish world No.28, worked out a marvellous win over the higher ranked Czech world No.7, Tomas Berdych in the third round of Shanghai Rolex Masters 2011 on Thursday, 13th October. Ending up in an hour
and twenty one minutes Spaniard outranked the 26-year-old destroying him in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.
Playing at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena, Shanghai, China Lopez pulled off the game with his consistent serve and accuracy adding to his super top spinners and down-the-line shots. The 30-year-old although was doubted to
win the match did stun everyone knocking out world No.7 effortlessly.
Starting off with winning the toss, Berdych won the first serve of the match and rolled down the scoreboard, 1-0 followed by the Spaniard veteran to level the score at one game each.
Winning games of respective serves the two rallied out the next 6 games levelling up on 2-2, 3-3 and at 4-4. Comparatively, Berdych had a better accuracy on his serve; however, he could not gather much points of the first serve.
With just two more games left to decide the first set winner, Czech world No.7 served accurately, however, could not counter the Spaniards excellent returns. Breaking his rival in game 9, Lopez stormed away serving out game 10
and winning the first set, 6-4.
Proving his reputation on hard court match after match, Lopez broke the world No.7 once again, this time in the opening game of the second set and serving out the second to lead the set 2-0. Finally, Berdych manoeuvred his first
win with a triple game point win, 1-2.
However, the top ranked Czech was unable to break back to level up the scores next. Extending his lead to 3-1, Lopez shunned another winner and maintained a comfortable two games lead. The 26-year-old did cut back the lead every
time he served, however, was unable to breach the rock solid Spaniard defence.
With scores now at 4-2, Lopez served out two out of the next four games to counter the world No.7, 6-4, winning the set and the match in straight sets to walk off into the quarterfinal of the ATP Masters 1000 event.
Qualifying into the quarterfinal round, Lopez has a greater opponent to deal with now. Florian Mayer, ousting Rafael Nadal, the top seed, is the next challenger for the Spaniard. Surely, the match would be worth a watch as both
players are consistent, agile and accurate and in their best forms.
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