Rosol powers past Rafa
London, June 29: Rafael Nadal made his earliest Grand Slam exit since 2005 when he was overpowered on Thursday by big-serving Lukas Rosol 6-7 (9), 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the second round at Wimbledon.
Rosol, a 26-year-old Czech ranked No. 100, earned the biggest win of his career playing in Wimbledon’s main draw for the first time. He lost each of the past five years in the first round of qualifying. As the match stretched beyond dusk, the conclusion came with the retractable roof closed for the final set on Centre Court.
The upset win was no fluke: Rosol served brilliantly and repeatedly stepped onto the baseline to hit aggressive groundstrokes, while Nadal found himself on the defensive.
Nadal saved three set points to win the opening set, but his demeanor grew glum as Rosol overtook him. After falling behind in the third set, Nadal grumbled to the chair umpire during a changeover, appar- ently irritated by Rosol’s movements as he awaited serves.
Two games later, Nadal bumped into Rosol — and didn’t acknowledge the contact — as they walked to their chairs for a break. Rosol exhaled before hitting his final shot, which was his 22nd ace. He fell to his knees, arms up, then collapsed face down on the grass. He then rose and
SELECTED RESULTS MEN’S THIRD ROUND: Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt Radek Stepanek (CZE x28) 4-6, 6-2, 62, 6-2; WOMEN’S THIRD ROUND: Maria Sharapova (RUS x1) bt Hsieh SuWei (TPE) 6-1, 6-4; Sabine Lisicki (GER x15) bt Sloane Stephens (USA) 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 6-2. SANIA-BETHANIE MAKE IT TO THE THIRD ROUND Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek-Sands advanced to the third round of the women’s doubles competition at the Wimbledon on Friday. The 13th seeded Indo-US duo scored a 6-3, 6-2 win over French pair of Stephanie Foretz Gacon and Kristina Mladenovic in just 55 minutes. — Agencies