WIMBLEDON, England — Andy Roddick’s mood was subdued, his words curt.
Once again, he’s leaving Wimbledon without the champion’s trophy. Only this time, Roddick heads home much earlier than a year ago - and after being beaten by a far-less-accomplished opponent.
The No. 5-seeded American erased an early deficit to even his fourth-round match against 82nd-ranked Yen-hsun Lu of Taiwan, then got broken for the only time all day in the very last game and lost 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 9-7 despite hitting 38 aces Monday.
“It never gets easier,” said Roddick, a three-time runner-up at Wimbledon. “Of course I’m going to be [ticked] off when I wake up tomorrow. I mean, if you got fired from your job, you probably wouldn’t wake up the next day in a great mood.”
This one sure looked like a mismatch going in, and not only because Roddick won all three previous meetings in straight sets.
Roddick, after all, is a former No. 1 who won the 2003 U.S. Open and played in four other major finals, losing each to Roger Federer, including 16-14 in the fifth set at the All England Club in 2009.
And Lu? The guy arrived last week with a 6-18 career record in majors, including five consecutive first-round exits. He also lost in Wimbledon’s first round the past four years. So even he had doubts as the match stretched beyond 4 1 /2 hours.
“Fifth set, I don’t believe I can win, because he’s [a] better server than me,” Lu said. “But I just tell myself, ‘Even [if] I don’t believe, I have to fight.”’
He pointed to the sky after ending the match with a forehand passing shot, dedicating the victory to his late father, a chicken farmer who died in 2000.
Lu’s coach, Dirk Hordorff, said: “Sometimes he’s mentally not strong enough. But today he showed he was strong enough.”
The second Monday at Wimbledon is one of the great spectacles in tennis, with all 32 remaining men and women in action, and there was quite an array of stars spread around the grounds. With the temperature moving into the 80s, and a cloudless sky, past Wimbledon champions Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena and Venus Williams all played - and won in straight sets.
“A wonderful day for the fans,” said Federer, who beat No. 16 Jurgen Melzer in the main stadium, then observed, “Obviously I know every corner of this Centre Court. It helps.”
Serena Williams followed him out there and pounded 19 aces in her 7-6 (9), 6-4 victory over 2004 champion Maria Sharapova.
In a matchup between former No. 1s and Grand Slam champions from Belgium who recently came out of retirement, No. 8 Kim Clijsters beat No. 17 Justine Henin 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Henin slid and tumbled to the grass in the match’s third game, jarring her right elbow, and wasn’t the same the rest of the way.
Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002winner at the All England Club, lost to 2008 Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, while two-time major finalist Andy Murray - Britain’s hope for its first homegrown male champion since 1936 - defeated No. 18 Sam Querrey of Santa Monica, Calif., 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 and is the only man yet to drop a set.
Lu’s victory over Roddick was Monday’s most significant surprise, by far, but it wasn’t the only one.
The 62nd-ranked Petra Kvitova knocked off No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki, last year’s U.S. Open runner-up, 6-2, 6-0; while No. 82 Tsvetana Pironkova eliminated No. 11 Marion Bartoli, the 2007 Wimbledon runner-up, 6-4, 6-4.
Kvitova and Pironkova each reached her first major quarterfinal. On Tuesday, Pironkova takes on five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, and the 22-year-old Bulgarian is not likely to be too intimidated: Shebeat the American at the 2006 Australian Open.
The older Williams sister picked up a 6-4, 7-6 (5) victory Monday over 92nd-ranked Jarmila Groth, but this was no easy day of work. Williams showed up late at the office, strolling out at 12:09 p.m. for their scheduled noontime match, saying later she expected to be escorted to remote Court 2.
In the other quarterfinals, Clijsters faces No. 21 Vera Zvonareva, who advanced when No. 4 Jelena Jankovic quit because of a back injury; Kvitova plays 80th-ranked qualifier Kaia Kanepi, and Serena Williams meets No. 9 Li Na.
The men’s quarterfinal matchups Wednesday will be top-seeded Federer vs. No. 12 Tomas Berdych; No. 2 Nadal vs. No. 6 Robin Soderling in a rematch of this month’s French Open final; No. 3 Djokovic vs. Lu; and No. 4 Murray vs. No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Wimbledon resultsMonday At The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Wimbledon, England Purse: $20.3 million (Grand Slam) Surface: Grass-Outdoor Singles Men Fourth Round Roger Federer (1), Switzerland, def. Jurgen Melzer (16), Austria, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (10), France, def. Julien Benneteau (32), France, 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
Tomas Berdych (12), Czech Republic, def. Daniel Brands, Germany, 4-6, 7-6(1), 7-5, 6-3.
Novak Djokovic (3), Serbia, def. Lleyton Hewitt (15), Australia, 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Andy Murray (4), Britain, def. Sam Querrey (18), United States, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
Robin Soderling (6), Sweden, def. David Ferrer (9), Spain, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
Yen-hsun Lu, Taiwan, def. Andy Roddick (5), United States, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 9-7.
Rafael Nadal (2), Spain, def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, France, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
Women Venus Williams (2), United States, def.Jarmila Groth, Australia, 6-4, 7-6 (5).
Tsvetana Pironkova, Bulgaria, def. Marion Bartoli (11), France, 6-4, 6-4.
Vera Zvonareva (21), Russia, def. Jelena Jankovic (4), Serbia, 6-1, 3-0, retired.
Li Na (9), China, def. Agnieszka Radwanska (7), Poland, 6-3, 6-2.
Kim Clijsters (8), Belgium, def. Justine Henin (17), Belgium, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic, def. Caroline Wozniacki (3), Denmark, 6-2, 6-0.
Kaia Kanepi, Estonia, def. Klara Zakopalova, Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-4.
Serena Williams (1), United States, def. Maria Sharapova (16), Russia, 7-6 (9), 6-4.
Sports, Pages 17 on 06/29/2010