Ferrer Stunned By Qualifier in Wimbledon Second Round
David Ferrer was one set away from moving into the third round at Wimbledon but was unable to close the deal as Russian qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov shocked the Spaniard 6-7 (5), 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday.
Kuznetsov is a relatively unknown player, ranked just 118th in the world, and will be making his first appearance in the third round of a Grand Slam in his career. He took advantage of a rusty Ferrer who had to withdraw from last week’s Topshelf Open due to a stomach issue, and was unable to finish off the qualifier, but gave no excuses.
“I lost because my opponent was better,” said Ferrer. “In the important moments, he was more aggressive than me.”
The key to Kuznetsov’s victory was his ability to hit winners and return Ferrer’s serve. He hit 77 winners over the course of the five sets, compared to just 26 for Ferrer. His ability to hit winners made up for the 38 unforced errors he had, which Ferrer could not capitalize on.
It was the earliest exit from a major since the 2010 Australian Open for Ferrer, and he is now 19-11 all-time in fifth sets.
Kuznetsov will look to follow up the biggest win of his career when he takes on Leonardo Mayer in the third round. The Argentinean smashed 16 aces in his 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 over 2006 semifinalist Marcos Baghdatis.
Avoiding the upset bug was Tomas Berdych and Grigor Dimitrov who both moved into the third round on Wednesday.
Berdych dropped the opening set in his matchup with Bernard Tomic and had to fight off tiebreakers in the second and third sets, but came back to win 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3), 6-1 over the Australian. The Czech will next take on Marin Cilic of Croatia.
11th seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov had an easier time in his matchup with Australian Luke Saville, rolling to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory. Dimitrov will move on to face Alexandr Dolgopolov, who defeated Germany’s Benjamin Becker.
