Sela shocks four-time champion Roddick at Queen’s
Andy Roddick has been knocked out of the Aegon Championships in the third round, his worst result at the tournament since he made his debut at London’s Queen’s Club in 2001.
The world No. 7, who was this week attempting to win his fifth title at the tournament, was defeated by Dudi Sela in straight sets in what is the biggest upset of the tournament so far.
The world No. 63, who was an integral part of Israel’s run to the semi-finals of the Davis Cup in 2009, secured the only break of the first set and with neither player able to break serve in the second, the set headed to a tiebreak, where Sela continued to produce some sublime tennis to take the tiebreak 10-8.
With the Israeli hitting winners to and from all corners of the court, not even Roddick’s powerful serve - which yielded 10 aces to Sela’s six - was enough to save him from defeat, with Sela wrapping up the match 6-4, 7-6(8) in an hour and 46 minutes.
Since losing in the first round at Queen’s in 2001, Roddick had enjoyed a string of strong results at the tournament, which he won from 2003 to 2005 and again in 2007. The 2009 Wimbledon runner-up had finished as a semi-finalist at Queen’s for the past two years.
Sela, who before this year had lost the only match he’d played at the tournament (to Viktor Troicki in the first round in 2008), now faces Germany’s Rainer Schuettler in the quarter-finals.
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