The Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open kicked into high gear Wednesday, with all four top seeds in action. Unseeded Feliciano Lopez did his best to steal the show.
The Spaniard, born and raised in Madrid, played inspired tennis in front of a star-studded crowd in his hometown, taking Roger Federer deep into the third set tiebreaker before succumbing to the world No. 3 in a shade under 3 hours. Lopez jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead in the final set tiebreaker before missing a sitting overhead that would have given him three match points. Federer smashed a ball way up into the crowd after Lopez’s final shot sailed long and he survived the upset bid 7-6(13) 6-7(1) 7-6(7).
Both players squandered multiple opportunities to put the first set away before Federer finally prevailed on his 9th set point, taking the tiebreaker 15-13. Lopez was unable to convert on four set points as Federer saved his best serves for the biggest points to bail himself out of trouble time and time again.
Lopez, though, didn’t fold in the second set after the disappointment of dropping the dramatic tiebreaker. In fact, with Real Madrid superstars Xabi Alonso and Cristiano Ronaldo sitting courtside, Lopez, ranked No. 39, did not face a break point in the second set. But the Spaniard failed to cash in on either of the two break points he had on Federer’s serve, and had to pull the second set out in another tiebreaker. This time, Lopez dominated the breaker, taking the first five points en route to an easy 7-1 win.
The third set was just as tight as the first two, and it was only fitting that it ended in another dramatic tiebreaker. Federer raised the level of his serve in the final set, dropping just 3 points in the entire set, but wasn’t able to find a way to break Lopez. In the 6th game, leading 3-2, Federer raced out to a 0-40 advantage, but squandered four break points in the game. He never again came close to breaking Lopez, setting up the dramatic climax to what was easily the best match of the clay court season thus far.
Hours before the drama of the Federer-Lopez match, world No. 2 Novak Djokovic extended his season-long winning streak by defeating South African Kevin Anderson in straight sets, 6-3 6-4.
Djokovic took advantage of Anderson’s second serve throughout the match, winning 56% of points when his opponent missed his first serve. It was a recipe for disaster for the South African, who was only able to get his first serve in play at a rate of 61% for the match.
Djokovic used a well-timed break of serve in each set to cruise to his 28th consecutive victory to start the 2011 season. Anderson was unable to break the Serb’s serve. Djokovic has won every tournament he has entered thus far, including a Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.
Rafael Nadal, meanwhile, is working on a winning streak of his own--he has not dropped a match on a clay court since the 4th round of the 2009 French Open. He continued that streak today by beating Marcos Baghdatis in two easy sets, 6-1 6-3.
The world No. 1 opened the match with a break of serve and never looked back. Baghdatis struggled all day long with the pace and depth of Nadal’s groundstrokes. The Spaniard looked to be in good form as he ran Baghdatis from side to side of the court in dispatching the Cypriot in just 1 hour and 22 minutes.
Nadal’s victory secured the 3rd round matchup with Juan martin Del Potro, who crushed Marin Cilic earlier in the day 6-3 6-0. It will be the marquee match of the 3rd round, pitting two Grand Slam champions against each other. Del Potro, who is on the comeback trail after missing almost all of last year with a wrist injury, is playing his best tennis since capturing the 2009 US Open. He won the tournament in Portugal last week, and has been winning matches over top 20 players with ease thus far on the European clay. This will be the 9th meeting between the two players--Nadal won earlier this year on a hard court at Indian Wells, but Del Potro has lifted his game and his fitness level since then. Del Potro won the three previous meetings, including a straight set drubbing in the semifinals of the 2009 US Open.
The No. 4 seed, Andy Murray, also moved into the 3rd round Wednesday, beating Frenchman Gilles Simon in three sets. The two split two tight sets before Murray took control and ran away with the third set. Murray won 6-4 3-6 6-0 and will face Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci in his next match. Murray has been battling an elbow injury which limited his effectiveness in the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters, and he eventually withdrew from the tournament in Barcelona two weeks ago.
Other 3rd matches will pit Djokovic against Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, No. 7 seed Tomas Berdych will take on Argentine Juan Monaco, who advanced when No. 9 seed Gael Monfils retired during their second round match, and Spaniard David Ferrer, runner-up to Nadal in both Monte Carlo and Barcelona, will play Ukranian Sergiy Stakhovsky. On Nadal’s side of the draw, No. 5 seed Robin Soderling will battle Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Federer will take on Belgian Xavier Malisse and in the most surprising match-up, Spanish qualifier Daniel Gimeno-Traver will play Frenchmen Michael Llodra.
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