4-time champ Roddick exits Queen’s early; Nadal pushed hard to reach quarterfinals

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4-time champ Roddick knocked out at Queen’s

LONDON — Andy Roddick made his earliest exit in nine years from the Queen’s Club grass-court championships when he was ousted in the third round by 14th-seeded Dudi Sela of Israel on Thursday.

Roddick, a four-time champion at Queen’s, lost 6-4, 7-6 (8).

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal advanced after a challenge from Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, reaching the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4 victory. Nadal needed a trainer after the second set to work on his upper right leg.

The fourth-seeded Roddick was under pressure the entire match and failed to convert two set points in the tiebreaker before Sela clinched victory on his second match point with a backhand winner.

“He played great,” Roddick said. “Credit to him. I think he had a very specific game plan, and I thought he executed it very well and never dug himself a hole on any service games, never had any sloppy errors.

“I think I could have done some things differently, but I thought he played a pretty perfect match. He outplayed me today.”

Sela will face Germany’s Rainer Schuettler, who had a walkover when 11th-seeded Richard Gasquet withdrew with a back injury.

Seventh-seeded Sam Querrey of the United States advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over Marcel Granollers of Spain, while No. 8 Feliciano Lopez beat Julien Benneteau of France 6-2, 6-4.

No. 2 Novak Djokovic and No. 3 Andy Murray were all scheduled to play later Thursday.

After Nadal edged the first set in a tiebreaker, Istomin took the second with a break in the opening game.

In the decider, Nadal served for the match at 5-3 and held two match points. Istomin broke him, but the Spaniard earned the victory on his third match point by breaking his opponent with a forehand winner.