ARTICLE
Radek Stepanek overcame Juan Carlos Ferrero in a four-hour, five-set thriller to progress to his first Grand Slam singles fourth round.
The Czech No.14 seed defeated the Spaniard 5-7, 6-7, (4-7), 6-4, 6-2, 11-9 in a match that could have gone either way. For Juan Carlos Ferrero, Wimbledon has always proved a tricky affair. Of the four Grand Slam events, it has been his least happy hunting ground – he has only reached the last 16 twice, in 2003 and last year. However, at the start of the match the agile Spaniard proved to be the more adventurous player, charging the net one minute and dancing along the baseline the next to hit spectacular returns.
Very soon he was two sets up. But Stepanek retaliated in the third and fourth sets by firing down aces and lifting his overall game to push the duel to five sets. Luck appeared to be against the Spaniard in the final set when several net-cords fell in Stepanek’s favour. One of them came when Ferrero was serving at 10-9 down, and equalled the game to 30-30. To Ferrero’s dismay Stepanek then produced a breathtaking winner – one of 92 he hit during the match – to earn match point.
It is a considerable achievement for a 27-year-old who has failed to pass the third round in 16 previous Grand Slam appearances. The Czech now faces Fernando Verdasco in the fourth round, after the Spaniard defeated former Wimbledon runner up and No.4 seed David Nalbandian.
Ah, bad luck.. He could've won this match.. Better luck next time
Radek Stepanek overcame Juan Carlos Ferrero in a four-hour, five-set thriller to progress to his first Grand Slam singles fourth round. The Czech No.14 seed defeated the Spaniard 5-7, 6-7, (4-7), 6-4, 6-2, 11-9 in a match that could have gone either way. For Juan Carlos Ferrero, Wimbledon has always proved a tricky affair. Of the four Grand Slam events, it has been his least happy hunting ground – he has only reached the last 16 twice, in 2003 and last year. However, at the start of the match the agile Spaniard proved to be the more adventurous player, charging the net one minute and dancing along the baseline the next to hit spectacular returns.
Very soon he was two sets up. But Stepanek retaliated in the third and fourth sets by firing down aces and lifting his overall game to push the duel to five sets. Luck appeared to be against the Spaniard in the final set when several net-cords fell in Stepanek’s favour. One of them came when Ferrero was serving at 10-9 down, and equalled the game to 30-30. To Ferrero’s dismay Stepanek then produced a breathtaking winner – one of 92 he hit during the match – to earn match point.
It is a considerable achievement for a 27-year-old who has failed to pass the third round in 16 previous Grand Slam appearances. The Czech now faces Fernando Verdasco in the fourth round, after the Spaniard defeated former Wimbledon runner up and No.4 seed David Nalbandian.
Ah, bad luck.. He could've won this match.. Better luck next time
