TENNIS in DEPTH.

And it gets worse from there — in 1973, no U.S. men entered the Australian Open.

Feliciano Lopez of Spain held off Isner’s charge before 10,000 cheering spectators and ushered the 6-foot 9-inch American to the sidelines, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-7 (0), 6-1. “For me, it was a fantastic match,” Lopez told reporters. “In the fifth set, I hit a fantastic passing shot. I’m very happy with my performance.” In the final game, Lopez had double-faulted on the doorstep of match point, but then Isner botched a backhand service return that gave the Spaniard a second chance.

Repeatedly stymied by Lopez’s strong serve, Isner, seeded 16th, had spent much of the early stages of the match with shoulders slumped and head lowered. By the middle of the fourth set, he had hit more than 41 unforced errors and 42 forced errors, a signal that the Spaniard was pressing the points more forcefully. Leading 3-2 in the fourth set, Isner called for a medical timeout. A trainer applied a bandage to a toe on Isner’s right foot as Chair Umpire Pascal Maria of France looked down, smiling and chatting with Isner as the trainer worked. Despite his respite, Isner’s chances of breaking Lopez’s stride seemed to diminish steadily. The Spaniard won his serve at love to tie the score at 5-5 and again at 6-6. But in the key tiebreaker, Isner jumped off to a 5-0 lead, scoring on two Lopez errors and three of his own winners, including an overhead smash that bounded far beyond Lopez’s reach, and a half-volley winner that shot into the backhand corner. Suddenly, Isner’s hangdog demeanor evaporated. He began racing from side to side and charging the net, no longer consulting his shoelaces in despair. Lopez seemed stunned, yielding a sixth and seventh point on his own errors, and walking with his head down to his chair in the changeover. Isner seemed energized, ready to claim another cliffhanger. But there were clues that he might not succeed.

By the start of the fifth set, Lopez, seeded 18th, had served so effectively that he had lost only a single break point, a statistic that never changed over the 3 hours and 26 minutes of the match.

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Playing in the U.S. didn’t work in Mardy Fish’s favour. He fought a tough battle against fellow recent Wimbledon quarterfinalist Feliciano Lopez, but suffered a 46 63 36 76(2) 86 loss. Playing in his hometown of Austin, Texas, didn’t deliver good fortune for Andy Roddick either. The former US Open champion couldn’t hold up against the dogged David Ferrer, who scored a 76(9) 75 63 win. “I have too much respect for Ferrer to act like I’m stunned,” Roddick said. “The guy is six in the world for a reason. He played well. I thought I played pretty well for the first two sets, but the third set got away from me a little bit… He beat me tonight.”

There was much talk leading up to this tie about the fast hard court surface the Americans selected – they were hoping it would come off feeling like a slippery ice skating rink to the Spaniards. But, at least after the first day of play, the Spanish team seemed to adjust well to the court without having ice skates strapped on their feet. “Of course, this is not our best surface,” said Albert Costa, the Spanish captain. “We never (would) choose this surface at home. But these guys are very good. They have the talent to play in all kind of surfaces…. But we have to know that still is a lot of work to do. Nothing is over yet, for sure. So we have to fight a lot.”

The last time USA came back from 0-2 down was against Australia in 1934, which proves how difficult it is to climb out of such a deficit. But the lack of success on the opening day – and history not in the American corner – has not dashed the hopes of the American team to turn the tie around. “Obviously it’s an uphill battle,” Roddick said. “We’re not going to be the favorites down 0-2. (But) we’re not out of this.”

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Feliciano Lopez set up a quarter-final clash with Andy Murray after saving two match points on the way to seeing off Lukasz Kubot in a five-set thriller. Kubot, ranked 49 places below Lopez, put himself on course for a shock victory when he took the first two sets – the second of which came after a tight tie-break. The Polish qualifier then had two chances to seal the match in a third-set tie-break, but squandered them both to lose the set. Buoyed after making his way back into the match, Lopez edged the fourth set to level the match and set up a thrilling finale. The match seemed poised to go on long in to the evening as both players held serve well until Kubot lost his service game in the 12th to hand Lopez a 3-6 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (9/7) 7-5 7-5 win.

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Both men offered few breaking opportunities on serve, forcing the first two sets to tie-breaks won by Lopez, ranked 44 in the world. Eighth seed Roddick’s 16 unforced errors proved crucial as Lopez broke his serve in the third set. And he held on for his first victory in eight attempts against Roddick.

“It was a great win for me, I have never beaten Andy,” an estatic Lopez told BBC Sport. ”Even leading two-sets to love I knew that he would still be a great fighter as he is such a great player. ”It’s a very important win. I was a little nervous towards the end as it’s always difficult to close out a match.” Two-time quarter-finalist Lopez will play either France’s ninth seed Gael Monfils or Poland’s Lukasz Kubot in the last 16.

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The ATP World Tour 250 event top seed captured his fifth title in 2011, and 23rd in his career, with a 7-6(4), 6-2 victory over world no.37 Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in 1 hour and 56 minutes on Sunday. This is Nole’s second triumph at his hometown tournament. He lifted the trophy at the inaugural Serbia Open 2009. The opening set went into a tie-breaker. The 23-year-old Belgrade native took it 7-4. It turned out to be crucial for the outcome of the final. Lopez was broken twice in the second set, in the third and seventh games. Nole served out the match 6-2.

Novak has won every tournament he’s entered in 2011: the Australian Open, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami and now Belgrade. He increased his overall winning streak to 29 wins in a row, dating back to last December’s Davis Cup final. The best Serbian tennis player of all time has improved to a perfect 27-0 this season and is only two matches short of equalling Ivan Lendl’s 29-0 start in 1986.

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Novak Djokovic goes into the final with a perfect 26-0 match record on the season and will look to capture his fifth title when he faces Spain’s Feliciano Lopez. He has cruised through the draw this week, with straight-sets victories over Adrian Ungur and Blaz Kavcic. In the first three months of the season, Djokovic claimed the Australian Open, Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami titles and is unbeaten since the semi-finals (l. to Federer) of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in November. Djokovic takes a 3-0 career lead into the clash with the No. 37-ranked Lopez, although the left-hander did win a set off Djokovic in their most recent meeting at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February.

Lopez earned his place in the final with 7-6(3), 6-2 victory over Italian Filippo Volandri, who was contesting his first ATP World Tour semi-final in more than three years. The Madrid native converted all four break point chances he created and saved nine of Volandri’s 11 break point chances to prevail in one hour and 35 minutes. He has not dropped a set on his run through this week, including victories against Fernando Gonzalez and Albert Montanes. The 29-year-old Lopez is through to his sixth ATP World Tour final and his first since clinching his second title in Johannesburg (d. Robert) last year. In his only previous clay-court final, Lopez finished runner-up to Richard Gasquet in Gstaad in 2006.

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Rafael Nadal got to work with his 2011 Sony Ericsson Open campaign Saturday night, defeating Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4, 6-4 in the second round. The two-time Sony Ericsson Open runner up felt he played a complete match and was satisfied with the way he served. “I’m very happy about how I played. I think I played at a high level tonight,” Nadal said. “The feeling was better than last week, so that’s important. My serve worked very well at the end of the match.” In the third round, Nadal will square off against friend Feliciano Lopez. Though he’s defeated his compatriot in six of their eight meetings, he knows Lopez has the ability to play superior tennis. “I know it’s going to be a difficult match because he has a very good serve, good volley, and he’s very dangerous… but if I play well I’ll have my chances.”

Nadal intends to approach his match against Lopez with an assertive game plan. “I have to play aggressive with my forehand, try to move him, and go to the net when I have the chance,” explained Nadal.

Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych required three sets to get past Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, but came through 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-0 to advance into the third round. The No. 7 seed overpowered his opponent in the first and third sets, winning 24 of 25 service points. Up next for the Czech is Argentinean Carlos Berlocq, a three-set winner over No. 28 seed Ernests Gulbis.

Janko Tipsarevic upset 18th seeded Marin Cilic in a late day-session match, winning 6-3, 7-6(4). The win gave the spirited Serb his first win over the Croat, after losing their first five meetings, all on hard courts. Awaiting Tipsarevic in the third round is Philipp Petzschner, who took out doubles partner Jurgen Melzer, the No. 10 seed, 6-3, 6-4.

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Frank Dancevic recorded his biggest triumph in more than a year when he upset top-seeded Feliciano Lopez in the first round of the SA Tennis Open on Wednesday. The 26-year-old from Niagara Falls, Ont., dispatched the defending champion from Spain, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (8) in a two-hour eight-minute tussle broken by rain. Dancevic, ranked more than 200 places below Lopez, called it his biggest win since back surgery in late 2009 had sidelined him for 10 months. “I really thought I didn’t have much chance against Feliciano, he’s the defending champion,” Dancevic said. “Tennis is a funny game. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day. That’s the way it is on the Tour these days.” Dancevic’s victory came a day after Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., defeated second-seeded Yen-hsun Lu of Taiwan.

Lopez was among four seeded players who lost Wednesday. Third-seeded Janko Tipsarevic and seventh-seeded Rainer Schuettler were also beaten in the opening round, while eighth-seeded Michal Przysiezny was downed in straight sets by South Africa’s Rik de Voest in the second round. That leaves only two seeded players — No. 4 Kevin Anderson and No. 6 Adrian Mannarino — still standing in Johannesburg.

Lopez saved three match points against the unseeded Dancevic in the deciding tiebreaker, but then sent a simple backhand on his only match point into the net with Dancevic out of position. The Canadian rallied to win it 10-8. Lopez failed to convert any of his 10 breakpoint opportunities. “When you miss a lot of chances, this is what happens,” Lopez said. “I just missed so many chances. I didn’t like the first round (draw). Dancevic is so dangerous. He is very talented.”

Earlier Wednesday, Schuettler, like Lopez and Tipsarevic, wasted an early lead for the German to fall 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Go Saeda of Japan. Jesse Huta Galung of the Netherlands, ranked No. 120, ousted the No. 51-ranked Tipsarevic 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (4) in a rain-delayed match held over from Tuesday. “Everything went wrong today,” Tipsarevic said. “All respect to my opponent, but this is one of my worst performances in a long time. All the decisions I made went wrong.” Huta Galung’s joy was short-lived as he then lost to India’s Somdev Devvarman in the second round in his second match on day three. Dudi Sela of Israel got past Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 in another first-round match held over from Tuesday and South African wild card Fritz Wolmarans hit 25 aces to beat Dutch player Igor Sijsling 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Slovakia’s Karol Beck recorded a straight sets win over Brian Dabul of Argentina for a place in the second round before the seeded players tumbled.

De Voest, another South African wild card entrant, was 4-1 down in the second set against Przysiezny before reeling off five straight games for a 6-3, 6-4 win over the Pole to become the first player to reach the last eight, his first ATP quarter-final.

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