Roddick bounced from Wimbledon

Associated Press

WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND

Three-time Wimbledon runner-up Andy Roddick was eliminated 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2), 6-4 Friday by Feliciano Lopez in the third round, the biggest upset of the men’s tournament so far.

The 44th-ranked Lopez served 28 aces and piled up 57 winners to defeat Roddick on Centre Court, the American’s first loss to the Spanish left-hander in eight matches.

“He played an outstanding match,” Roddick said. “I feel like he played as complete a match as he’s played against me. He served about as well as someone has.”

In a surprise on the women’s side, second-seeded and 2010 runner-up Vera Zvonareva was knocked out 6-2, 6-3 by 33rd-ranked Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria. The Russian converted only one of seven break points and had 18 unforced errors. Pironkova upset Venus Williams here last year en route to the semifinals.

Williams, a five-time champion, set up a fourth-round rematch against Pironkova by routing Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-0, 6-2 in 1 hour on Court 1.

“Last year, I wasn’t on my best game,” Williams said. “But this year, I’m really going to look forward to really playing a little bit better than last year. Every now and then we all have bad days, but I’m planning to have a better one this year.”

Play was suspended for the day shortly after 7 p.m. local time, except on Centre Court where fourth-seeded Andy Murray defeated Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4) under the sliding roof to move into the fourth round in his bid to become the first British men’s champion in 75 years.

Murray served for the match at 5-3 in the fourth set but couldn’t convert, hitting an errant forehand on the second break point. But, in the tiebreaker, Murray took advantage of errors by the Croatian and ended the match by following up a big serve with an forehand putaway.

In the seventh game of the fourth set, Murray pulled off a trick shot — hopping in the air near mid-court and flicking the ball between his legs for a cross-court winner. He made a similar shot against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final of the Queen’s Club tournament June 13.

Among the unfinished matches was defending champion Rafael Nadal’s contest on Court 1 against Gilles Muller of Luxembourg. The top-seeded Spaniard was leading 7-6 (6) when the rain came.

Nadal, who saved two set points on his serve at 6-5 down in games, called for a medical timeout after the tiebreaker. He slipped and fell awkwardly behind the baseline, getting up slowly after losing the ninth point of the tiebreaker. Nadal walked off the grounds later after play was suspended for good.

The eighth-seeded Roddick, who lost to Roger Federer in the finals in 2004, ’05 and ’09, served 23 aces but also had six double-faults. It’s the third time in four years Roddick has lost in the early rounds — he went out in the second round in 2008 and the fourth last year.

“He played better than I did,” Roddick said. “He beat me. It’s easier for me to walk out of here with that and move forward with that than ’08 where I lost to [Janko] Tipsarevic and I felt like I completely choked or last year where I just kind of had a million opportunities and kind of gave it away. Those are tougher to take now.”