Thursday, June 26, 2008

6th-seeded Roddick stunned at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England - Former two-time Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick didn't even get to the third round this year.

Roddick, who lost in the 2004 and 2005 Wimbledon finals to Roger Federer, went out 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Thursday to 40th-ranked Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who has never gone past the fourth round at a major.

The sixth-seeded Roddick went 0-8 on break points, while Tipsarevic converted both of his break chances. Roddick had three set points in the fourth set but couldn’t capitalize, and Tipsarevic finished him off in the tiebreaker, falling to his hands and knees in celebration on Centre Court.



“This means the world to me,” Tipsarevic said.

He pulled off the biggest win of his career just a day after No. 3-ranked countryman Novak Djokovic was knocked out on the same court by Marat Safin.

“I’m just glad that I won and Serbia will have more representatives in the men’s singles draw,” Tipsarevic said.

Nadal, a two-time Wimbledon runner-up who swept to his fourth straight French Open title without dropping a set, lost the first set against the talented Gulbis — a quarterfinalist at the French — when he was broken in the 12th game.

But Nadal sailed through the next set, took the third in a tiebreaker and got the decisive break for 5-3 in the fourth.

No. 9 James Blake — who has never gone past the third round at Wimbledon — lost to Germany’s Rainer Schuettler, 6-3, 6-7 (8), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 and No. 12 Andy Murray had a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win over Belgium’s Xavier Malisse.

  ALSO ON THIS STORY  Discuss: Sound off on tennis message boards




Roddick struggles but wins Wimbledon opener
WIE HAPPY WITH OPENING ROUND