Top seed Murray, Roddick tumble out of Aegon Championships

London, United Kingdom (AHN Sports) – It was a tough day for seeded players at the Aegon Championships as top seed and defending Andy Murray and 7th-ranked Andy Roddick led the parade of ranked netters who were shown the door Wednesday in the tournament that serves as warm-up for Wimbledon.

Murray, a two-time champion at Queen’s Club, was booted out by Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(1). Mahut, the 2008 finalist, won the first six points of the third-set tie-break to post the huge upset.

“My best win before was Rafael Nadal here on the same court, centre court, so it’s a lucky court for me,” said Mahut.

“Rafa was a very good performance, but today beating Andy Murray here in Queen’s, it’s very special, but it’s only second round,” he added.

Roddick fell victim to another Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who prevailed 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 despite 22 aces from the American.

“I thought I had a look there in the third set, and honestly I felt like I was going to take that thing once I turned it. Didn’t work out that way,” Roddick said. “The guy played great. I didn’t hit the ball too badly. I’ve certainly played a lot worse this year so far.”

Other seeded players who headed to the exit were Simon Gilles (4th), Ivo Karlovic (16th), Alex Bogomolov Jr. (13th), Go Soeda (15th), Dennis Istomin (12th) and Marcos Baghdatis (11th).

Second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga escaped the exodus of top title hopefuls, as he cruised past British wild card Jamie Baker 6-3, 6-2 in 57 minutes.

On the women’s side, the top three seeds Francesca Schiavone, Sabine Lisicki and Daniela Hantuchova made an early exit after they were defeated in the opening round.

The top seeded Schiavone was the first to go, succumbing to Japanese lefty Misaki Doi, 7-5 6-4 while Lisicki lost to Poland’s Urszula Radwanska, 6-3, 6-4. Hantuchova was defeated by

Hungarian left-hander Melinda Czink, 7-5, 7-6(5).

Meanwhile, third-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych defeated Serbian Viktor Troicki, 6-3, 6-2, in the second round of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany.

Fifth seed Canadian Milos Raonic dismissed China’s Ze Zhang 6-1, 6-1, Mikhail Youzhny advanced with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over fourth-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov and Radek Stepanek beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, 6-4, 6-4.

---

---