MALLORCA, June 22, 2021
Feliciano Lopez became the seventh Spaniard in the Open Era to win 500 singles matches in his career, joining Rafael Nadal (1,027 wins), David Ferrer (734), Manuel Orantes (722), Carlos Moya (575), Fernando Verdasco (554) and Tommy Robredo (533). The 39-year-old fought past No. 6 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in his second-round match at the inaugural Mallorca Championships.
On a sunny Tuesday afternoon on the Balearic Islands, Lopez fired 15 aces and won 76 per cent of his first-service points to advance after one hour and 50 minutes.
“More than the 500 wins, the important thing to me is the chance to keep playing in these kinds of tournaments and to keep being competitive,” Lopez told ATPTour.com. “I didn’t expect to be able to play at the level I am on the ATP Tour at 40 years of age, which I will be in September.”
List of active ATP players with 500+ wins:
Federer – 1247
Nadal – 1027
Djokovic – 961
Murray – 678
Gasquet – 556
Verdasco – 554
Cilic – 533
Wawrinka – 533
Robredo – 533@feliciano_lopez – 500 📸Welcome to the club, Feli! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/27lp6giD1n
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 22, 2021
The World No. 90 from Toledo, who captured seven ATP Tour career titles, will next take on Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, who benefited from the retirement of No. 2 seed Dominic Thiem. The Austrian was leading 5-2 in the first set when he struck a forehand and appeared to injure his right wrist. After receiving a medical time out, Thiem was forced to stop playing.
A very unfortunate ending 😔
Dominic Thiem retires vs Mannarino after appearing to injure his wrist while hitting a forehand at 5-2 up in the opening set in Mallorca…
Hope it’s not too serious, @ThiemDomi! 🙏 pic.twitter.com/pxOa6O6AXx
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 22, 2021
“It’s nice for me to be in the quarterfinals, but winning this way is not so cool. I really like Dominic, he’s such a nice guy and I hope he will be feeling better soon,” Mannarino said during his post-match on-court interview. “I hope it is not so serious, especially right before Wimbledon.
“I’ve never beat him in the past and obviously he was leading in the scoreboard… I think I was playing okay until Dominic had to stop. I hope he is going to be okay and that I can make a good result here.”
Medvedev begins Mallorca campaign
Top seed Daniil Medvedev opened his title bid at the Mallorca Championships with a straight-set win over Frenchman Corentin Moutet.
The World No. 2 from Russia sent down six aces and won 80 per cent of his first-service points to seal a 6-4, 6-2 victory in one hour and 23 minutes.
Meddy on the march 👣
A first grass win of 2021 for @DaniilMedwed, who beats Moutet 6-4 6-2 to reach the last 8 at @MallorcaChamps pic.twitter.com/FD4CoMUNeV
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 22, 2021
“In the beginning I couldn’t hit two balls in the court and I was missing lots of serves when I had 40/0. On grass, that’s not the best thing to do in my first [service] game of the match,” Medvedev said in an on-court interview. “But I’m really happy that I managed to win the match because that’s what gives [me] confidence and [hopefully] in the next rounds I can play better.”
Medvedev, who has an 18-13 career record on grass with semi-finals showings at 2017 Eastbourne and at The Queen’s Club in London 2019 as his best results before coming to Mallorca, will next play Norwegian young gun Casper Ruud, who beat US-American Tennys Sandgren 6-3, 6-4 after 68 minutes.
Last week’s NOVENTI OPEN champion Ugo Humbert continued his fine run of form on grass with a 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 win over Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic. The No. 7 seed from France converted three of his 15 break-point chances to prevail after two hours and 10 minutes.
Up next for Humbert will be Sam Querrey from the United States, who edged past Spanish qualifier Roberto Carballes Baena 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(3). The encounter lasted two hours and 35 minutes.
