Roddick falls to Ferrer

Andy Roddick made a third-round exit from Wimbledon for the second year in a row as his challenge petered out at the hands of Spanish seventh seed David Ferrer.

Three times a Wimbledon runner-up, never the champion, Roddick will turn 30 during the US Open later this year and his days as a serious contender for grand slams may be behind him.

Yet for the best part of two sets on Centre Court, he gave Ferrer more than a fright, taking the one-sided opener after an immediate break of serve and then forcing a tie-break in the second.

At that stage 30th seed Roddick had only dropped his serve once, but gradually his performance began to tail off as Ferrer showed the form that brought him the grass-court title in ’s-Hertogenbosch.

Roddick was also a title-winner last week, at Eastbourne, but once the tie-break got away from him today the momentum was with Ferrer who sealed a 2-6 7-6 (10/8) 6-4 6-3 victory.