NO. 5
Tomas Berdych d. Roger Federer, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, Wimbledon QF
Just a month after his record of reaching 23 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals was ended at Roland Garros by Robin Soderling, Roger Federer was dealt another shock defeat in the Wimbledon quarter-finals. The Swiss, who was bidding to reach his eighth straight final at the All England Club, was bundled out on Centre Court by Tomas Berdych, who had also beaten the Swiss after saving match point a couple of months earlier in Miami.
It marked the first time that Federer had not reached a grass-court final since losing in the first round at Wimbledon (l. to Ancic) in 2002. The Basel native, who committed 18 unforced errors – five fewer than Berdych - had not lost to a player outside the Top 10 at a Grand Slam championship since 2004 at Roland Garros.
While the sight of Federer bowing out of The Championships prior to the final was a surprise to tennis fans, the nature of his opponent’s breakthrough was not. At Roland Garros, Berdych had reached his first Grand Slam semi-final and for a long time had been considered one of the most talented players on tour, although grass had not been his strongest surface.
“[I'm] not surprised," said Berdych, who would go on to lose to Rafael Nadal in his first Grand Slam final at the end of the week. "I'm very happy with my performance today. I was playing really well. I [had] some weak moments in the second set when I lost my serve and gave him chance to win the set. I didn't have any special tactics. For me the important thing was to play my tennis, serve well [and] play aggressive."
NO. 4
Ivan Ljubicic d. Rafael Nadal, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(1), Indian Wells SF
LjubicicYou may have been forgiven for thinking Ivan Ljubicic’s best tennis playing days were behind him when the Croatian turned 31 in March. However, just a day later the Croatian proved that in fact the best was still to come when he ousted Rafael Nadal en route to winning his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells.
“Probably the best I've ever played in my career. I enjoyed it, really… Great, great moment,” declared Ljubicic after drawing on all his fighting spirit to recover from a set down to defeat Nadal for just the second time in seven attempts. The Croatian had beaten Novak Djokovic in the fourth round and defeated his third Top 10 player of the week, No. 8 Andy Roddick, to win the title.
After saving four break points in what he later termed the “key to the match” in the sixth game of the second set, Ljubicic went on to level the match before pulling off what he called “the best tie-break of my career” to clinch the deciding third set in two hours and 34 minutes.
For Nadal, it meant the continuation of his 10-month title drought and a drop from No. 3 to No. 4 in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings. “That was an accident today,” said Nadal. “That's my feeling because I was playing enough well to win the tournament.”
NO. 3
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez d. Rafael Nadal, 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-3, Bangkok SF
When World No. 53 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez squared up to his top-ranked countryman Rafael Nadal in the PTT Thailand Open semi-finals, few would have expected the 27 year old to be the one to end Nadal’s nine-match winning streak.
Just a week after becoming the seventh man in the history of the sport to win the career Grand Slam, Nadal had made his debut in Bangkok to great fanfare and after two convincing victories in his opening matches, made a strong start to the clash with Garcia-Lopez as he raced to a one-set lead.
With Nadal boasting a 64-4 match record in the past 52 weeks after winning the first set, it seemed the remainder of the contest would be a formality for the left-hander. Not so. Nadal squandered 24 of 26 break point chances in the match, including 16 in the second set, and was made to pay the price as Garcia-Lopez converted his only chance in the third set to seal victory in what he later hailed as “the best match of my career”.
“I had a lot of break point chances in the second set, too many chances,” lamented Nadal, who was bidding to reach his eighth tour-level final of the season. “He played a great match, especially in the third set, but I was playing better than him in the beginning. I didn't play the break points well. With 26 opportunities to break you have to take your chances. It's a difficult loss to accept. I was playing well and had a good opportunity to get to final.”
The result proved to be a catalyst for Garcia-Lopez, who went on to win his second ATP World Tour title with victory over Jarkko Nieminen, before reaching the quarter-finals in Tokyo (l. to Troicki) and beating Tomas Berdych en route to the Shanghai quarter-finals (l. to Djokovic).
NO. 2
Lleyton Hewitt d. Roger Federer, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4, Halle Final
Federer, HewittFormer World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt proved that two hip surgeries were not enough to halt one of the fieriest competitors the game has ever seen when he snapped a 15-match losing streak against his long-standing rival Roger Federer in the Halle final. Just over four months earlier, the Australian had undergone surgery on his left hip after falling to Federer in straight sets in the Australian Open fourth round.
Federer went into their 25th meeting having won 76 of his past 77 matches on grass, including compiling a run of 29 straight victories on the lawns of Halle. The six-time Wimbledon champion and five-time Halle winner failed to capitalise on a 0/40 advantage on Hewitt’s serve in the ninth game of the second set, though, and the Australian made Federer rue his missed chances as he won the subsequent tie-break before prevailing in a tense third set.
“It’s fantastic,” declared 2002 Wimbledon champion Hewitt. “Roger’s a hell of an opponent; his grass-court record speaks for itself. Any time you play Roger on a grass court you know you’re in for a hell of a battle and I was lucky to get out of today’s match. It’s fantastic for me - I’m getting towards the end of my career and had a couple of surgeries - to know I can still compete at this level. I’m thrilled to be here and to have won another title.”
It was the 29-year-old Hewitt’s first victory over Federer since September 2003 in the Davis Cup semi-finals and saw him improve his perfect record in tour-level grass-court finals to 7-0.
NO. 1
Yen-Hsun Lu d. Andy Roddick, 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 9-7, Wimbledon 4th Rd.
On paper it appeared it would be a straight forward victory for three-time Wimbledon runner-up Andy Roddick as he took on Yen-Hsun Lu in the fourth round at Wimbledon. The Chinese Taipei player had won back-to-back matches on grass only once before, at The Queen’s Club in 2004, and he had lost all three of his previous meetings with former World No. 1 Roddick.
In an inspired performance from the then-26-year-old, though, Lu struck 83 winners and broke Roddick’s serve for the only time in the match in the final game to seal the dramatic victory, which he dedicated to his father who passed away in 2000. The manner of defeat for Roddick brought back harsh reminders for the American of his heart-breaking loss to Roger Federer in the 2009 final, when the Swiss player had finally broken the Roddick serve in the last game to win the marathon five-set match.
Lu became the first Asian man since Japan’s Shuzo Matsuoka at Wimbledon in 1995 to reach the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam championship. The run did not continue for Lu, though, as he went on to lose to Novak Djokovic two days later.
“Through three sets I was playing horrendously, I mean really, really badly,” lamented Roddick. “Actually I think the fifth set was probably the best set that I played as far as hitting the ball, making him struggle to actually get through service games sometimes. But when you dig yourself a hole, it's tough to get out. He deserved to win more than I did. That's for sure."
