LOSING TO LOPEZ

Andy Roddick’s countryman, Ryan Harrison, has been defeated by Feliciano Lopez of Spain in the first round of the China Open 2012. Lopez won the match by 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-2. In the first couple of sets, both the players gave each other a tough fight. But, in the final set, it was all about Lopez. The Spaniard just outclassed Harrison in the third set and knocked him out of the tournament. Lopez took 2 hours and 10 minutes to win the match.

Lopez was off to a terrific start in the match. He broke Harrison’s service in the third game and then, further enhanced the lead by holding his service in the next game. At the end of the fourth game, the score was 3-1 in the favour of Lopez. But, the Spaniard didn’t manage to keep the lead till the end of the set. His service was broken in the sixth game and the scores were levelled. There were no breakthroughs in the next 6 games and the set went into the tie breaker. Lopez didn’t give any chance to Harrison in the tie breaker and won the first set.

In the second set, both the players made a decent start. There were no breakthroughs in the first 10 games and the scores were levelled at 5-5. Harrison got a breakpoint in the 11^th game and he didn’t miss that chance. He latched on it to make the score 6-5. He served out the next game easily to win the second set by 7-5.

In the final set, both the players held their service in the first four games and the scores were levelled at 2-2. But, after that, it was Lopez all the way. The Spaniard won the last four games in a row to finish off the match.

In the second round, Lopez will face Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan.