Wimbledon: Roddick upset at Wimbledon by man ranked 82nd
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Andy Roddick's mood was subdued, his words curt.
Once again, he's leaving Wimbledon without the champion's trophy. Only this time, Roddick heads home much earlier than a year ago — and after being beaten by a far-less-accomplished opponent.
The No. 5-seeded American erased an early deficit to even his fourth-round match against 82nd-ranked Yen-hsu Lu of Taiwan, then got broken for the only time all day in the very last game and lost 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 9-7 despite hitting 38 aces Monday.
"It never gets easier," said Roddick, a three-time runner-up at Wimbledon. "Of course I'm going to be (ticked) off when I wake up tomorrow. I mean, if you got fired from your job, you probably wouldn't wake up the next day in a great mood."
This one sure looked like a mismatch going in, and not only because Roddick won all three previous meetings in straight sets.
Roddick, after all, is a former No. 1 who won the 2003 U.S. Open and played in four other major finals, losing each to Roger Federer, including 16-14 in the fifth set at the All England Club in 2009.
And Lu? The guy arrived last week with a 6-18 career record in majors, including five consecutive first-round exits. He also lost in Wimbledon's first round the past four years. So even he had doubts as the match stretched beyond 4½ hours.
"Fifth set, I don't believe I can win, because he's (a) better server than me," Lu said. "But I just tell myself, 'Even (if) I don't believe, I have to fight.'"
He pointed to the sky after ending the match with a forehand passing shot, dedicating the victory to his late father, a chicken farmer who died in 2000.
Lu's coach, Dirk Hordorff said: "Sometimes he's mentally not strong enough. But today he showed he was strong enough."
The second Monday at Wimbledon is one of the great spectacles in tennis, with all 32 remaining men and women in action, and there was quite an array of stars spread around the grounds. With the temperature moving into the 80s, and a cloudless sky, past Wimbledon champions Federer, Rafael Nadal and the Williams sisters all played — and won in straight sets.
"A wonderful day for the fans," said Federer, who beat No. 16 Jurgen Melzer in the main stadium, then observed, "Obviously I know every corner of this Centre Court. It helps."
Serena Williams followed him out there and pounded 19 aces in her 7-6 (9), 6-4 victory over 2004 champion Maria Sharapova.
"I had a few looks at her serve," Sharapova said, "but even when you had a good look, and the ball's coming at you in the 120s (mph), it's pretty tough to do much with it."
In a matchup between former No. 1s and Grand Slam champions from Belgium who recently came out of retirement, No. 8 Kim Clijsters beat No. 17 Justine Henin 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Henin slid and tumbled to the grass in the match's third game, jarring her right elbow, and wasn't the same the rest of the way.
Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 winner at the All England Club, lost to 2008 Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, while two-time major finalist Andy Murray — Britain's hope for its first homegrown male champion since 1936 — defeated No. 18 Sam Querrey of Santa Monica, Calif., 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 and is the only man yet to drop a set.
Lu's victory over Roddick was Monday's most significant surprise, by far, but it wasn't the only one.
The 62nd-ranked Petra Kvitova knocked off No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki, last year's U.S. Open runner-up, 6-2, 6-0; while No. 82 Tsvetana Pironkova eliminated No. 11 Marion Bartoli, the 2007 Wimbledon runner-up, 6-4, 6-4.
Kvitova and Pironkova each reached her first major quarterfinal. On Tuesday, Pironkova takes on five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, and the 22-year-old Bulgarian is not likely to be too intimidated: She beat the American at the 2006 Australian Open.
The older Williams sister picked up a 6-4, 7-6 (5) victory Monday over 92nd-ranked Jarmila Groth, but this was no easy day of work. Williams showed up late at the office, strolling out at 12:09 p.m. for their scheduled noontime match, saying later she expected to be escorted to remote Court 2.
"I was waiting on someone to get me. No one came. So eventually I just came out," said Williams, who twice broke when Groth served for the second set. "I saw everyone else leave. I thought, 'OK, time to go.'"
It was a tight match, but Groth is far less experienced in these matters than Williams, who advanced to the 31st Grand Slam quarterfinal of her career — 31 more than Groth. At 5-all in the tiebreaker, Groth double-faulted to hand over a match point, then dumped a forehand into the net.
In the other quarterfinals, Clijsters faces No. 21 Vera Zvonareva, who advanced when No. 4 Jelena Jankovic quit because of a back injury; Kvitova plays 80th-ranked qualifier Kaia Kanepi; and Serena Williams meets No. 9 Li Na.
The men's quarterfinal matchups Wednesday will be top-seeded Federer vs. No. 12 Tomas Berdych; No. 2 Nadal vs. No. 6 Robin Soderling in a rematch of this month's French Open final; No. 3 Djokovic vs. Lu; and No. 4 Murray vs. No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Nadal, the 2008 champion who was forced to five sets the previous two rounds, breezed past Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, showing no sign of being hampered by his bothersome right knee. Soderling edged No. 9 David Ferrer 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 to make the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time.
Lu is the only unseeded man left. Indeed, when Djokovic met with reporters after his victory — but while Roddick-Lu was still in progress — he was asked to size up a meeting against the American.
Who could have expected Lu to win? He didn't even earn a single break point against Roddick through the first three sets, yet led by virtue of being more solid in the match's first two tiebreakers.
"Through three sets I was playing horrendously, I mean really, really badly," Roddick said. "I was trying to think of how to put balls in the court. I think the fifth set was probably the best set that I played ... but when you dig yourself a hole, it's tough to get out."
By the end, Roddick had won more total points, 199-196. But Lu served much better than he had in their past matches, winning 101 of 124 points in his service games and saving 7 of 8 break points, including 3 of 3 in the final set.
He had one break point in the fourth set, which Roddick saved, and one in the fifth, at 8-7. Roddick began the last game by missing a forehand wide, then shanked another one. At 30-all, Roddick hit an apparent ace, but Lu challenged the call, and the replay showed it was a fault. Roddick's second serve came at 98 mph, and Lu drilled a return that forced Roddick into a forehand error.
Suddenly, it was match point, and Lu got back a 133 mph serve, then smacked a winner for his first victory over a top-10 opponent since defeating Murray in the first round at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Lu sat in his sideline chair, buried his face in a towel, and immediately thought of his late father, who used to take him to tennis lessons. After Lu became the first man from Taiwan to reach the fourth round at a Grand Slam, his mother and brother went to the hill where his father is buried to give him the good news.
After Monday's victory, Hordorff told his charge: "Now your family can go again, and tell him that you're in the last eight."
Roddick, meanwhile, was left to stew about what has to be one of the most disappointing losses of his career, given the tournament, the round and the opponent.
"He deserved to win more than I did," Roddick said. "That's for sure."
Notebook: Big serve helps Serena Williams at Wimbledon
IMBLEDON, England (AP) — The woman with the most dominant serve so far at Wimbledon says she's no John Isner.
"If I could serve like him, I'd be a star," Serena Williams said after her fourth-round victory Monday over Maria Sharapova.
For the second match in a row, Williams had 19 aces, her high for the year. She has faced only one break point in the tournament and has won 90 percent of the points (128 of 142) when her first serve is good.
She has totaled 63 aces, an average of nearly 16 per match.
"I don't serve like this too often," Williams said. "I don't know what it is about this court that makes me serve well."
Grass courts playing especially fast because of warm, dry weather are a factor. They helped Isner total a record 113 aces — he originally was credited with 112, but the total later was revised — when he won the longest match in tennis history in the opening round last week.
But Williams' serve is always powerful, and a big reason she's ranked No. 1. The three-time Wimbledon champion has reached double figures in aces 10 times this year, most on the women's tour.
Against Sharapova, Williams' serve topped out at 125 mph, and she won 7-6 (9), 6-4.
"If it was not for her really great serving, I certainly had a real good look at winning the match," Sharapova said. "Even when you had a good look and the ball's coming at you in the 120s, it's pretty tough to do much with it."
Williams' opponent in the quarterfinals Tuesday will be Li Na. Williams won when they met in the Australian Open semifinals in January and went on to her 12th Grand Slam title.
SHARAPOVA TO CHERNOBYL: Russian Maria Sharapova plans a trip to Chernobyl to raise awareness about the continuing impact of the nuclear reactor explosion there in 1986, a year before she was born.
Sharapova's parents lived in nearby Belarus when the accident happened, and they fled to Siberia. Radiation left swaths of Belarus and Ukraine uninhabitable, and severe health problems persist.
Sharapova said she wants to "send the message that we're all very aware of the situation, what has happened many years ago, and that people on a daily basis are still affected by it, are getting sick, and are living in those regions. ... I haven't been there in 10 years."
A three-time Grand Slam champion, Sharapova lost in the fourth round Monday at Wimbledon to Serena Williams.
HENIN HURT: Justine Henin arrived at Wimbledon seeking the only major title she has yet to win. She left with a sore elbow.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion took a spill in the third game of her loss Monday to fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters and subsequently required three visits from a trainer. Henin failed to hold an early lead, losing 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, and said the elbow bothered her "a little bit" on her serve and backhand.
"It's a little worse now after the match than during the match," Henin said. "I thought it was really the tendon. We're not quite sure, so I'll have to wait probably a day or two before checking what's happening there. I hope nothing serious, but it's quite painful now."
Henin came out of retirement at the beginning of the year, in large part because of her desire to win Wimbledon.
"I said before coming here it was still a year with a lot of things to improve and a year of transition," she said. "So 2011 will be probably more important for myself."
Clijsters, also back at Wimbledon after coming out of retirement, has never won the tournament but has reached the quarterfinals for the fourth time. Her opponent Tuesday will be No. 21-seeded Vera Zvonareva, who won when No. 4 Jelena Jankovic retired with a back injury trailing 6-1, 3-0.
ON FURTHER REVIEW: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams agree about the need for instant replay. In soccer, that is.
Even Wimbledon was abuzz Monday about the blown call that cost England a goal in its 4-1 loss to Germany in the World Cup.
Federer, never a fan of using replays to challenge line calls in tennis, said soccer needs a system for reviewing disputed plays.
"We have electronic line-calling even though we don't need it," Federer said. "We all know we don't, but we do have it. They should have it, and they don't. ... One forehand down the line doesn't change the outcome of the match, whereas one goal changes the entire mindset of a team."
Nadal, arguing for video replay in soccer, said England might have won if not for the blown call.
"All the sports ... have technology, so football must have something soon, especially in this kind of competition," he said.
Williams was upset about the ruling against England and an earlier call that was costly to the U.S.
"I don't know if I can be a genuine fan of football because of the calls," she said. "I mean, the call with the England game was outrageous. ... I don't understand how, in this day and age, they don't have better technology."
ISNER ON TV: John Isner, who kept everyone counting last week, was scheduled to count down from 10 Monday.
Isner, winner of the longest match in tennis history against Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon last week, was invited to present Monday night's Top Ten List on CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman."
Mahut earned an invitation, too: He received a wild card to play in the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships beginning July 5 in Newport, R.I.
-- Steven Wine
Wimbledon at a glance
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Monday at the All England Club:
Men's Fourth Round: No. 1 Roger Federer def. No. 16 Jurgen Melzer, No. 2 Rafael Nadal def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, No. 3 Novak Djokovic def. No. 15 Lleyton Hewitt, No. 4 Andy Murray def. No. 18 Sam Querrey, Yen-hsun Lu def. No. 5 Andy Roddick, No. 6 Robin Soderling def. No. 9 David Ferrer, No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. No. 32 Julien Benneteau, No. 12 Tomas Berdych def. Daniel Brands.
Women's Fourth Round: No. 1 Serena Williams def. No. 16 Maria Sharapova, No. 2 Venus Williams def. Jarmila Groth, Petra Kvitova def. No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki, No. 21 Vera Zvonareva def. Jelena Jankovic (retired), No. 8 Kim Clijsters def. No. 17 Justine Henin, No. 9 Li Na def. No. 7 Agnieszka Radwanska, Tsvetana Pironkova def. No. 11 Marion Bartoli, Kaia Kanepi def. Klara Zakopalova.
Noteworthy: Taiwan's Lu is the first Asian man to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam tournament since Japan's Shuzo Matsuoka did it at Wimbledon in 1995.
Quoteworthy: "I'm from Florida. Anyone who knows Florida knows this heat is not the same." — Venus Williams, asked if the temperature being in the 80s at Wimbledon this year has been a factor for her.
Weather: Sunny. High of 82.
Online: www.wimbledon.org
Nadal fined $2,000 for receiving coaching
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Rafael Nadal has been fined $2,000 by Wimbledon officials for receiving coaching during his third-round match.
Nadal was given a code violation by French umpire Cedric Mourier for allegedly receiving advice from his coach, uncle Toni Nadal, during his five-set win over Philipp Petzschener on Saturday.
Both Nadals said Toni had only been giving the player encouragement. The fine was announced Monday. Nadal said, "The rules are the rules."
Other Tennis News
Capriati recovering from 'accidental' OD of meds
Former tennis star Jennifer Capriati was recovering Monday from an accidental overdose of prescribed medication, a family spokeswoman said.
The 34-year-old Capriati, once ranked No. 1 in a career sidetracked by personal troubles, was in stable condition and expected to make a full recovery, spokeswoman Lacey Wickline told The Associated Press. She declined to identify the medication.
Capriati was rushed to a South Florida hospital early Sunday morning, she said. Wickline would not say how Capriati was found or who called emergency services.
"In response to an outpouring of concern and support shown by Jennifer's fans and friends worldwide, we would like to acknowledge that Jen is recuperating at a South Florida hospital from an accidental overdose of medication prescribed to Jen by her personal physician," Wickline said. "Jen is recovering fully and stably."
Public records show Capriati owns a condo on Singer Island in Palm Beach County, Fla. Riviera Beach city spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown said a person was transported from Capriati's address Sunday morning but could not provide details, citing privacy laws. Nearby hospitals did not have a patient listed under Capriati's name.
Celebrity website TMZ first reported that Capriati was hospitalized.
At Wimbledon, Venus and Serena Williams paused after wins Monday to extend their concern.
"I probably will definitely see how that goes and pray for everyone involved," Serena Williams said. "If there's any way I can do anything to help, reach out, I definitely will do that."
Added Venus Williams: "I remember her match against Monica (Seles) in the semifinals of the (French) Open. I remember watching that and just thinking how great that tennis was. So definitely a lot of fond memories just watching her growing up, and obviously even playing against her, respecting her game so much."
Kim Clijsters also posted on her Twitter site, "I haven't been able to stop thinking about Jen! I hope she makes it through ok and can get some help!"
A child prodigy on the tennis court, Capriati burned out and retired several times from a game she had been pushed to play nearly her entire life.
Capriati was arrested in 1993 for shoplifting at a Florida mall, and again the next year for marijuana possession. She also spent more than a week in drug rehabilitation in 1994, and acquaintances alleged she used crack cocaine and heroin during a weekend party before her arrest at a Coral Gables motel.
Capriati, however, came back strong several times from both injuries and personal issues.
She won three majors — two Australian Opens and one French Open between 2001-02 — to go along with her gold medal in the 1992 Olympics. She was the youngest semifinalist at the French Open in 1990, when at age 14 she lost to Seles, the eventual champion.
Capriati reached the U.S. Open semifinals in 2003, losing to Justine Henin. She failed to gain any momentum from that run and soon faded from the game again.
-- Antonio Gonzalez
Mahut gets wild card in Hall of Fame championship
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — A week after playing the longest match in tennis history at Wimbledon, Nicolas Mahut has landed a wild-card spot in a grass court event in Newport, R.I.
The International Tennis Hall of Fame announced Monday that Mahut will play in the Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships running from July 5-11.
Mahut will also present memorabilia from his record-setting match against John Isner to the Hall of Fame's museum. Hall of Fame spokeswoman Anne Marie McLaughlin said she did know exactly what memorabilia would be presented.
Last week's 183-game match lasted 11 hours and five minutes over three days. Isner won 70-68 in the fifth set.
Mahut has competed four other times at Newport, and was a finalist in 2007.
