Lopez falls at first hurdle in Rotterdam
Fourth seed Feliciano Lopez was ousted from the first round of the World Indoor Tournament in Rotterdam by Paul-Henri Mathieu 4-6 7-6 (5) 6-4.
The shock result was delivered after nearly three hours of a big-serving contest in which Frenchman Henri boomed down 10 aces.
Lopez hit 13 of his own and won 72 per cent of his services points but the Spaniard could not get the better of 30-year-old qualifier Henri.
"I almost cannot believe it," said Mathieu. "I panicked a bit at the beginning of the match, he played very well.
"I'm moving better now and started playing better during the important points. I'm happy to win three matches in a row in three days during my first month back in competition."
Henri's compatriot Richard Gasquet also won through to the second round after a 6-3 1-6 6-1 victory over Flavio Cipolla of Italy.
Fifth seed Gasquet continued his decent form so far this season to post his sixth win in 2012, to three defeats.
Alexandr Dolgopolov, the sixth seeded Ukrainian, was beaten 6-7 (4) 6-4 6-2 by Lukasz Kubot of Poland to end his interest in the tournament early on, while 2005 and 2007 finalist Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia was bounced out 7-6 (6) 6-3 by Dutch wild card Jesse Huta Galung.
Top seed Roger Federer gets his tournament under way against Nicolas Mahut on Wednesday.
Comment 1 - 5 of 5
These guys are elite athletes, they love to play the game that's why they can play solidly for 4-5hrs , something no other sport demands. Nadal is not a loser he is a fighter, to come back each year and raise his level to be able to compete for a 5hr final is phenomenal. Its certainly not shameless - what's shameless are comments like that from ignorant people who probably don't even know what it feels like to play a sport to that level or even pick up a racquet.
lopez is shameless......keeps on playing....loses to nadal on any surface and still keeps on playing loses in 1st and 2nd rounds and still keeps playing.....
when he plays nadal...its a guarantee that he will find a way to lose....and please dont talk about fed...cause federer destroyed nadal at the atp london...and embarassed him in london again....so lets not go there....
as far as your hero nadal....he too is shameless....seven finals in a row losing and getting embarassed by nole....still playing...preety shameless to me!
I agree with Risimko. After that shameful loss of Switzerland I would not be surprized if Federer lose at an early stage here. It's a pity that finalists of the last year - Tsonga and Soderling are not playing this week. Soderling obviously is not well yet, but I can't understand why Tsong refused to try to defend his points.
Nothing is in the bag for Roger these days. Any ispired Isner type-o-guy can stun him.
This tournament is in the bag for Roger.
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