Roddick ousted

WIMBLEDON, England (AP):

Head bowed, Andy Roddick trudged off Centre Court, his purple Wimbledon towel dragging along the turf.

As the three-time runner-up at the All England Club headed for the exit, he passed some kids clamouring for an autograph from their front-row perch. Roddick paused and tossed his blue-framed racket underhand. Thanks to his latest earlier-than-anticipated Grand Slam loss, the American won't be needing it next week.

The eighth-seeded Roddick departed quickly yesterday, beaten 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2), 6-4 in the third round by unseeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain.

Lopez served spectacularly well, hitting 28 aces, and finally got the better of the 2003 US Open champion after losing all seven previous matches they played.

Roddick turns 29 in August, and he was asked whether, as the years go by, one particularly depressing thought creeps into his mind: He might never win Wimbledon.

"Well, sure. You're human. I mean, of course it does," he replied. Then, speaking directly to the reporter, Roddick added: "You know, you may never get your favourite job, either - no offence to your current employer."

Roddick lost to Roger Federer in the 2004, 2005 and 2009 finals - 16-14 in the fifth set of that last one - but only made it as far as the fourth round last year and second round in 2008.

"What do you do? You keep moving forward until you decide to stop," Roddick said. "At this point, I've not decided to stop, so I'll keep moving forward."

It didn't help that Lopez was nearly perfect, conjuring up 57 winners and eight unforced errors.

"Unbelievable," Lopez said. "When I came back in the locker room, my coaches told me. I was surprised that I didn't miss anything, almost."

Because of rain, only two other third-round men's matches finished yesterday: No. 4 Andy Murray moved forward in his bid to give Britain its first male champion at Wimbledon since 1936, beating Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4) with the help of a behind-the-back, between-the-legs trick shot under the Centre Court roof; and No. 17 Richard Gasquet of France beat Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Murray plays Gasquet next.

Roddick is the highest-seeded man out of the tournament so far. Two of the top three women already are gone: No. 2 Vera Zvonareva, the runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2010, was eliminated by No. 32 Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-3 yesterday, less than 24 hours after No. 3 Li Na, the French Open champion, lost.

Pironkova reached the semi-finals last year, when she upset five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, and they'll have a rematch in the fourth round next week.

Williams overpowered 76th-ranked Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 6-0, 6-2 on Court 1.

"I'm in the next round. That's my main goal, regardless whether I play amazing, whether I play halfway decent. Doesn't matter," Williams said. "It's just about finding a way to win."

Looking ahead to facing Pironkova, Williams said: "Last year, you know, I think I just got unhappy with how I was playing and I let that affect my game. This year, I won't let that happen."

Sharapova pressured

Another past Wimbledon winner, Maria Sharapova, struggled at the start against 17-year-old Laura Robson of Britain before righting herself to win their second-round match 7-6 (4), 6-3, her shot-accompanying shrieks as loud as ever.

Sharapova trailed 4-1 early, then fell behind 4-2 in the tiebreaker, before taking the set's last five points, closing it with a 108 mph service winner against 2008 Wimbledon junior champion Robson.

"She was much more aggressive than I was in the beginning," Sharapova said. "But then I just kind of got my rhythm a little bit and started playing better."

Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki also won a delayed second-round match, as did 2007 finalist Marion Bartoli. Defending champion Rafael Nadal's match was among several in the third round stopped because of rain yesterday evening.

Having saved two set points against Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, the top-seeded Nadal came back to take the opener 7-6 (6), despite slipping behind the baseline and tumbling to his knees. At the ensuing changeover, Nadal asked to see the trainer for treatment.

In three second-round men's matches held over from Thursday, 18-year-old Bernard Tomic of Australia, the youngest man left, defeated Igor Andreev of Russia 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1; No. 11 Jurgen Melzer of Austria beat Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1); and No. 7 David Ferrer of Spain finished off a 6-7 (6), 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 comeback victory over 19-year-old Ryan Harrison of the United States.