TENNIS in DEPTH.

Bernard Tomic has continued his dream Australian Open to book a third-round blockbuster with world No.1 Rafael Nadal. Australia’s world No.199 stunned Spanish 31st seed Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 on Thursday to reach the last 32 of a grand slam event for the first time. The biggest win of Tomic’s career came two days after the 18-year-old two-time junior grand slam champion dumped world No.44 Jeremy Chardy from the tournament. Playing Nadal – almost certainly in the prime-time Saturday night slot – will be a whole new ball game for Tomic.

But the top seed is nonetheless already on guard. “He’s very young, he’s playing well I think, he has a very very good future … hopefully not for the next round,” Nadal said after trouncing American qualifier Ryan Sweeting 6-2 6-1 6-1 earlier on Thursday. Nadal said a match against the young Australian on Rod Laver Arena would be a nice occasion and recalled his days as a teenager taking on dual grand slam winner Lleyton Hewitt in Melbourne. “I remember when I was here when I was 16, 17, I played against Lleyton (twice and lost both times). If you win, it’s unbelievable. If not, it’s OK,” the history-chasing Spaniard said.

Tomic’s clash with Lopez pitted the youngest player – and last remaining Australian – in the men’s draw against a two-time quarter-finalist playing his 36th consecutive grand slam event. Anything but overawed, though, Tomic came out firing, opening with an ace, holding his first two service games to love and breaking Lopez for a 3-0 advantage with a booming backhand pass down the line. Showing guile, deft touch, agility and power, Tomic raced to 5-2 only to drop serve to love trying to close out the first set. But the teenager retained his nerve to recover from 2-0 down in the tiebreaker to pocket the first when Lopez dumped a forehand into the net. Tomic suffered a letdown early in the second set, dropping serve to fall behind 3-0 but gallantly broke the Spaniard to love in the seventh game. The Australian again prevailed in the second-set tiebreaker as Lopez, feeling the heat, began to unravel.

The two-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist had two break point opportunities in the seventh game of third set, but Tomic held strong and broke Lopez for a 5-3 lead the very next game. He calmly served out the match after two hours, nine minutes. Tomic said he was having the time of his life at Melbourne Park, where three years ago, at 15, he became the youngest-ever junior Open champion. “What an experience it’s been,” he said.

“I can’t ask for anything more. To get the opportunity to play Rafa is a dream come true.

“I’m lucky I had the chance to play Feliciano, another left-hander, because I’m going to need everything out there.”

Lopez was the only player to inflict a grasscourt defeat on Nadal last year, upsetting his countryman in the Queen’s Club quarter-finals, before the world No.1 added the Wimbledon and US Open titles to his French Open crown.

The 24-year-old Spaniard arrived in Melbourne bidding to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four grand slam titles simultaneously.

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Juan Martin del Potro claimed his first victory in a year with a hard-fought 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (9/7) 7-6 (7/3) win over Feliciano Lopez in the first round of the Medibank International in Sydney on Monday. The former world number four, who missed most of the 2010 season with a wrist injury for which he underwent surgery in May, ground out victory in three hours and two minutes against the sixth-seeded Spaniard. The Argentinian was made to fight all the way, saving seven of the eight break points he faced. The victory was Del Potro’s first since he beat Florian Mayer in the third round of the Australian Open last year, and he will face the German in the second round in Sydney after he swept aside James Ward 7-5 6-0. “I don’t expect this kind of match for the start, but we played a beautiful match, very close,” Del Potro said.

“Feliciano is a fantastic player on this kind of surface and I played good tennis again. I feel good all match and finally I won a match after one year.” Del Potro revealed he is determined to win back his top-10 place this year. “I worked very hard for two months in Argentina,” he added. “I’m ready again to play long matches. I am still lower with my level, I need time. “I need work to keep going on this road. It’s a long road to be in the top 10 again, but I’m ready to try. I need matches and matches, practice, and work. Maybe four, six months I’m ready to play again good tennis.”

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Andy Murray recorded an impressive straight-sets win over Feliciano Lopez in the first round of the Valencia Open 500. He had to come from a break down and later save two set points in the second, but romped through a tie-break to win 6-3 7-6 (7/1). Murray’s first two service games followed the same pattern as the Scot raced to 40-0 but needed all three opportunities to serve out the game. Lopez responded with a love game in between times. Indeed, it took Murray seven attempts to win a point on the Spaniard’s serve – but he added the next three to break and lead 3-1. He extended that advantage with a love hold featuring his first two aces and was similarly untroubled in his next service game to lead 5-2. Lopez held and forced him to serve out – which he did to wrap up a half-hour set 6-3 with five aces. A Lopez double-fault set Murray on his way to a 0-30 lead in game three of the second set but Lopez responded with four straight points, sealing the game with an ace. Murray was broken in the next game as Lopez lifted the spirits of the home crowd by taking a 3-1 lead and, though he was pushed to the first deuce of the match in the next game, battled through on second serve to take the game. Murray held and again raced to 0-30 on the Lopez serve, forcing his first two break points of the set as the match ticked past the hour mark and taking the first to put it back on serve. He then held to level at 4-4.

The top seed saved two set points when serving at 5-4 down and levelled once more. Lopez then held to love to leave him serving to stay in the set once more, which he did to force a tie-break. Murray quickly established an advantage by winning two points on his opponent’s serve and added both on his own to set up five match points. He needed only one as he took advantage of a Lopez second serve to complete victory in an hour and 26 minutes

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Last week’s PTT Thailand Open champion Guillermo Garcia-Lopez knocked out sixth-seeded Spanish compatriot Feliciano Lopez 7-6(5), 6-4 in the pair’s first meeting in 12 months. The World No. 39 won 81 per cent of service points to reach his fifth ATP World Tour quarter-final (or better) this year. Lopez, who reached the 2002 and 2007 quarter-finals in the Japanese capital, failed to convert any of his four break point opportunities and dropped to a 26-20 season tally.

Radek Stepanek advanced to the quarter-finals at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships on Wednesday when his Swiss opponent Marco Chiudinelli retired due to a lower back injury. Stepanek was leading 5-7, 7-6(7) 4-1 and had hit 12 aces after two hours and 24 minutes of play. Stepanek was sidelined for two-and-a-half months due to mononucleosis earlier in the year. He reached the Brisbane International final (l. to Roddick) and has a 12-11 match record.

Russian Dmitry Tursunov, ranked No. 432 in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings after three left ankle surgeries, defeated 2007 finalist Richard Gasquet of France 7-6(2), 1-6, 6-4 in two hours and four minutes to book a place in his first ATP World Tour quarter-final since July 2009 at Indianapolis.

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Juan Martin del Potro continued his comeback on the ATP World Tour circuit Monday, but sixth-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez proved too strong in a 6-3, 6-0 victory in 82 minutes at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships. “It is difficult to come back and play against these players, especially Feliciano on such a fast court,” admitted del Potro. “I need time, I need to work on a few things to get back to my best level. If I work in a good way, I will be in good shape in a month or so.”

Lopez hit 11 aces and saved 11 of 12 break point opportunities to record his third straight win over del Potro, who returned to competitive tennis after an eight-month absence at the PTT Thailand Open last week. Lopez, who won the SA Tennis Open at Johannesburg (d. Robert) in February, improved to a 25-19 match record on the season.

“When you are away for as long as Juan has been, it takes time to get back to your best level, but I have no doubt that he will be one of the top players again soon,” said Lopez. “These courts really suit my style, they are very fast.” Del Potro added, “He knows my game well, he has beaten me the last three times. He played well today, never missed his forehand. I played sometimes good, sometimes not so good.”

Russian Dmitry Tursunov, who has undergone three left ankle surgeries and dropped outside of the Top 400, did not face a break in earning a confidence-boosting 6-3, 6-4 victory over seventh seed Ernests Gulbis of Latvia in 74 minutes. Gulbis reached the Bangkok quarter-finals (l. to Garcia-Lopez) last week and dropped to a 29-17 season record.

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Andy Murray overcame a second-set implosion to beat Feliciano Lopez 6-0 1-6 6-4 and set up a Farmers Classic final against Sam Querrey.

Murray stormed out of the blocks, winning the first seven games of the match, but then contrived to lose the next six as Lopez levelled at 1-1.

But the Scot, coachless after his split from Miles Maclagan, got an early break in the third and held on to progress.

Yesterday Murray struggled with his serve as he battled past Alejandro Falla but this time it was his Spanish opponent who could not find his rhythm early on.

Murray held confidently then broke the Spaniard and it was one-way traffic as he raced into a 5-0 lead.

And, though he needed two break points to do it in game six, he turned the first set into a whitewash.

Murray said after the victory: “Throughout the whole match until the end there, there wasn’t a point where I was playing well and he was also playing well.

“The third set was much closer but neither of us has played much since Wimbledon so maybe that explains the inconsistency.”

The Scot expects a tough match against Querrey: “He won here last year and reached the final again this year so he obviously enjoys this court and will have a home crowd behind him. It will be very difficult.”

Second seed and defending champion Querrey was involved in another tough contest before prevailing 6-7 (3/7) 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 against Janko Tipsarevic.

The American saved match point in defeating Rainer Schuettler in three sets last night and he knew he was in for another tough day as neither player could fashion a break in the first set and a tie-break was required.

Tipsarevic prevailed, but Querrey returned the favour in the next set before finally sealing victory in two hours 47 minutes.

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Top seed Andy Murray battled against his serve as well as Alejandro Falla, but claimed a 7-6 (7/3) 6-1 win to reach the semi-finals of the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles.

Murray’s first-serve percentage was just 42% for the match and an incredible 38% for the second set, but he met an opponent who struggled as much as he did.

And after battling through a tough opening set, the second, despite his service struggles, was far simpler as Murray, without a coach after he split with Miles Maclagan this week, sealed a last-four clash with Feliciano Lopez.

Lopez, who has lost to Murray in their last two meetings, said of his opponent: “Since the first time I saw him, I realised he was a very talented player and would be one of the best players in the world.”

Meanwhile fourth seed Lopez ended American James Blake’s run with a 3-6 7-6 (8/6) 6-4 win.

Second seed Sam Querrey came through testing quarter-final against Rainer Schuettler with a 6-2 3-6 7-6 (7/4) win, despite the veteran German twice serving for the match.

After going a set down, Schuettler battled back to claim the second, then broke to go 5-4 up in the third.

Querrey levelled, but again surrendered on serve, before breaking back for a second time to send the match into a tie-break, which he won.

“I was pretty frustrated the whole time, but I did a great job of playing the 5-4 and 6-5 games,” Querrey told www.atptour.com. “I played great points on those games and really battled back well.”

Waiting for Querrey in the semis is sixth-seeded Serbian Janko Tipsarevic.

The had a relatively easy time against Marcos Baghdatis, coming through 6-3 7-5 against the third seed.

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Queen’s organisers were desperately hoping Rafael Nadal would escape the fate of his fellow top-five seeds when he faced Feliciano Lopez in the first quarter-final of the day. But it was not to be as the ATP’s best players, looking remarkably like their female counterparts of the WTA, have all gone down to defeat in an unpredictable series of events.

Following Andy Murray’s dramatic exit earlier, Nadal was the last surviving big name in the tournament – only for his participation to end with a 6-7 (5-7) 4-6 defeat.

It ended the world number one and French Open champion’s 24-match winning run and was his second loss in seven matches against his countryman.

A tie-break was needed to settle a finely-poised first set and the crucial blow was struck when Nadal blasted a simple smash into the net to hand Lopez two set points.

He wasted the first by finding the net, but converted the second with a cute drop shot that left Nadal stranded.

Lopez had to wait until the ninth game of the second set to put real pressure on Nadal once more, securing two break points.

Nadal double-faulted on the first, enabling Lopez to serve for the match – and the underdog seized his chance.

He fluffed one match point when he overhit a simple winner but would not be denied moments later when Nadal fired into the net after being outmanoeuvred.

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