Match report

Stanislas Wawrinka © Tennistalk.com
ATP Masters Series Madrid
3rd round
10/16/08 1 2 Tot
ch  Stanislas Wawrinka 4 4 0
es  Feliciano Lopez 6 6 2
Feliciano Lopez © Tennistalk.com

  • Madrid - Lopez upsets another seed en route to the quarterfinals

    10/16/08 10:42 PM | Cheryl Murray
    Feliciano Lopez took on his second seed in a row at the Madrid Masters event when he played Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka in the third round.

    Spaniards are generally known as clay court specialists. Feliciano Lopez is not among that number. He is a big serving, competent volleyer who prefers hard courts to the dirt. He proved again on Thursday afternoon that fast surfaces are much better for his game. In the two set match, Stanislas Wawrinka did not have a single break point on the Spaniard.

    Lopez controlled the one hour fifteen minute match from start to finish. Wawrinka could not handle the Lopez serve at all. The Swiss man won a dismal 19% of the points on Lopez’s serve. To make matters worse for Wawrinka, he played poorly on the break points against him. Lopez broke once in each set; it was more than enough for the Spaniard to win the match comfortably.

    Of particular note in the match was the quality of Lopez’s volleying. His touch at net is sometimes overlooked since he does not venture in as often as he probably should. He has a particularly weak backhand that can get him into trouble, which is why his ranking is at 40 instead of much higher. The benefit of the faster courts for him is that points tend to be much shorter, and he doesn’t have to worry as much about getting into baseline rallies. Lopez will play his good friend Rafael Nadal in Friday’s quarterfinal.

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