Wimbledon 2011: Andy Roddick suffers third-round loss
- Published
Three-time Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick suffered a third-round exit as he was beaten 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 by Spain's Feliciano Lopez.
Both men offered few breaking opportunities on serve, forcing the first two sets to tie-breaks won by Lopez, ranked 44 in the world.
Eighth seed Roddick's 16 unforced errors proved crucial as Lopez broke his serve in the third set.
And he held on for his first victory in eight attempts against Roddick.
"It was a great win for me, I have never beaten Andy," an estatic Lopez told BBC Sport.
"Even leading two-sets to love I knew that he would still be a great fighter as he is such a great player.
"It's a very important win. I was a little nervous towards the end as it's always difficult to close out a match."
Roddick praised Lopez, saying: "He came out and served as well as a person can. He played an outstanding match."
The former US Open winner, 28, added: "I haven't played well this year, for sure. It has to get better, there's no doubt."
Two-time quarter-finalist Lopez will play either France's ninth seed Gael Monfils or Poland's Lukasz Kubot in the last 16.
Lopez's compatriot David Ferrer, the seventh seed, moved into the third round after beating American Ryan Harrison 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 4-6 6-3 6-2 in a match suspended from Thursday evening.
France's Richard Gasquet also progressed after a 6-3 6-2 6-4 win against Simone Bolelli.
The 17th seed will play the winner of the match between Andy Murray and Ivan Ljubicic.
Top seed Rafael Nadal was pushed all the way in an entertaining encounter against Luxembourg's Gilles Muller, edging the first set 7-6 after winning the tie-break 8-6 just before the rain suspended play on Court One.
the 24th seed Juan Martin del Potro was 1-0 up but 4-2 down in the second set against 15th seed Gilles Simon, while ninth seed Gael Monfils was 1-1 against Lukasz Kubot and 3-3 in the third set when the weather intervened.
Last year's runner-up Tomas Berdych was 2-0 up against Alex Bogomolov Jr.