In the familiar surrounds of the Louis Armstrong court, Mardy Fish said farewell in a five set defeat to eighteenth seed Feliciano Lopez.
It had started so promisingly for the home man, as he took two of the first three sets, serving for the match in the fourth. Lopez recovered from the brink however, and won the final three games of the fifth set when Fish started to cramp.
Both men forced fifteen-thirty in the opening games, to no avail. An entertaining point played out in Fish’s game, as a decent rally ended when Fish read a Lopez overhead backhand volley to guide a forehand up the line.
Lopez raced through his second service game, before setting up to break Fish at thirty-forty after Fish made aggressive groundstroke errors. Fish dissuaded the threat with an ace, coaxing two errors in turn from Lopez to level up at two games all.
Fish knew his opponent was of far higher pedigree than his favourable opening fixture and continued to push hard, notably pushing Lopez off-balance with excellent depth off his returns. This brought him to deuce, and two unforced errors from Lopez handed the crowd favourite the early lead at four-two.
Fish then broke again for a commanding lead, as Lopez continued to look unsettled by the quality of return, stopping play unsuccessfully to challenge one that landed near his feet. Fish took the first set with a comfortable service hold.
The first set statistics were notable in that Fish came forward and won more points at the net than his Spanish counterpart, who normally relies on serve and volley for many points. Fish had the eye in returning from the ad court, as Lopez consistently tried to use the wide left-handed serve to force Fish off court. Fish, however seemed content to guide his reliable backhand down the line on most of these returns.
Lopez started the second set in more traditional fashion, coming forward to volley more. A highlight point saw Lopez come in off a short sliced approach. Fish chased it down and produced a good lob but Lopez, with his back to his opponent, volleyed at full stretch to take the point.
Fish then faced pressure of his own, as Lopez forced another break point. Like the first set, Fish’s serve proved his escape, Lopez failing to return four successive ad court serves, and a sliced approach in the net saw Fish register in the second set.Both men held until the sixth game when Lopez broke to love. Fish committed three errors, and Lopez read a smash to brilliantly pass in securing the break. Both men held with ease the rest of the way through the second set.
The errors returned at the start of the third set for Lopez, missing two regulation forehands. A net court then fell kindly for Fish to earn the first break points of the third set. Another forehand sailed wide from Lopez and the American led again. Fish consolidated to love, as Lopez’s frustration grew. Fish broke again for five-one, and quickly re-acquired the set advantage.
Lopez immediately handed Fish the break in the fourth set, with an error-strewn game, though Fish quickly returned the favour. Lopez then threatened again in the sixth game, but Fish recovered from love-thirty to hold.
It was Lopez though, who finally wavered, with Fish rediscovering his tenacious returning of the first set. A vicious Fish backhand into the corner left Lopez unable to put the ball in play, and Fish seemed set to extend his farewell run.
He changed ends but failed to serve out, double faulting on break point for five-all. Lopez then broke again as Fish threw three errors and a poor drop shot Lopez’s way, the Spaniard taking a set that had seemed lost moments earlier.
Fish threw caution to the wind in the final set, putting his faith in his backhand, having multiple chances to break in the fifth and seventh games but failing to take any of four opportunities. He then perhaps unsurprisingly succumbed to cramp, and Lopez ran through the final few games to set up a clash with tenth seed Milos Raonic or compatriot Fernando Verdasco.
