TENNIS NEWS – THE BEAUTIFUL AND TALENTED FELICIANO LOPEZ REACHES A MILESTONE IN DUBAI WITH 400 ATP WINS!

Written by: Staff on 22nd February 2016

TENNIS NEWS - THE BEAUTIFUL AND TALENTED FELICIANO LOPEZ REACHES A MILESTONE IN DUBAI WITH 400 ATP WINS! |

#Lopez #victory #dubaidutyfree – Photo by @tennis_phil via Instagram.

Feliciano Lopez notched the 400th win of his career on Monday as he defeated countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

The sixth-seeded Spaniard struck 16 aces as he claimed victory in just under two hours in the pair’s first meeting in almost five years. Lopez improved to a 4-3 lead in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

La victoria 400 con una tarta sabe mejor, gracias a la @atpworldtour / Victory 400th tastes better with a cake, thanks ATP. – Photo by @felilopezoficial via Instagram.

“I’m very happy, first of all, because I think it’s a good number, 400 wins,” said Lopez. “It’s been long time since I started playing tennis, and I’m very happy that I have been able to achieve this number. It means that I was also very lucky in terms of not having injuries during my career. I have been able to play for almost 15 years, so it was easier to get to this number.

“The match today, I think Guillermo is a tough player for me to face. He’s a very solid player. He has very good groundstrokes. He hits the ball really hard.

“But I was very aggressive. I think I was doing the right things, especially in the beginning of the match. The first set was very quick. Then in the second set he was playing better and better. I was not serving at my best by the end of the set. I got a break. Then immediately I made the break again. I feel happy. Hopefully I can do better in the next round.”

The 34-year-old Lopez is the oldest player in the draw and is a two-time runner-up. The left-hander reached the final at this ATP World Tour 500 hard-court tournament in 2004 (l. to Federer) and 2008 (l. to Roddick).

One of the Next Generation stars, Hyeon Chung, reached the second round with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Andreas Seppi. The 19-year-old Korean notched his third win of the season as he converted two of his five break points and won 75 per cent of his service points.

Tunisian wild card Malek Jaziri cruised past two-time runner-up Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-1 in 90 minutes. Jaziri could face World No. 1 Novak Djokovic next, should the Serb overcome Tommy Robredo in his opener later.

( Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/lopez-reaches-400-wins-milestone-dubai-2016-monday )

Congrats @felilopezoficial on claiming your 400th win today at @ddftennis! #ATP #tennis #FelicianoLopez #milestone – Photo by @atpworldtour via Instagram.

Topics: 400th ATP win, Atp World Tour, Dubai Duty Free tennis, Feliciano Lopez, Guillermo Garcia Lopez, Sports, Tennis News