Triple Play: Feliciano Lopez, 37, reaches two finals with 3-0 Saturday
After defeating 18-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime in the singles semifinals, the veteran Spaniard played two doubles matches with Andy Murray.
After Feliciano Lopez defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime on Saturday at Queen's Club, you might have might have expected the 37-year-old to kick back and relax, having just beaten a player almost half his age. A massage, perhaps. Maybe even a Pimm's before dinner.
But the veteran's day on the court was only just beginning. Lopez's busy week in London—which included him reading a statement about his name appearing in a match-fixing allegation—reached its apex on this day. Two doubles matches would follow, with Lopez's partnership with crowd favorite Andy Murray as successful as it's been sentimental.
Here's a look back at Lopez' long but lucrative day:
Feli's—or, Felix's?—day began inauspiciously, when chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani evidently thought Lopez was still 18.
When Lopez dropped the first set to Auger-Aliassime, who had won six of his last seven grass-court matches, it appeared that Lahyani would also be saying "Felix" when he eventually announced the match winner.
But Lopez's time-tested skill on the slick surface—particularly his heavy first serves and pinpoint volleys—would keep Felix's coronation for another tournament. Lopez won the next two sets, 6-3, 6-4, and he'll play for his first title since June 2017, when he Marin Cilic at Queen's Club.
On Sunday, Lopez will face Gilles Simon, who edged Daniil Medvedev in the day's first singles semifinal, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3. It's an "over-35 final," Lopez joked after his two-hour and 15-minute win. (Close: Simon turns 35 in December.)
Before we get to back to Lopez, check out this shot of wheelchair player Alfie Hewett, who also prevailed on Saturday at Queen's Club:
Because of darkness on Friday, Lopez and Murray were forced to win two matches on Saturday if they wanted to reach the final. They took the first step with a 6-4, 7-6 (3) win over Brits Daniel Evans and Ken Skupski:
The Lopez-Murray unit, surely a favorite of Andy's mother, Judy, had already defeated the tournament's top-seeded team of Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal in their debut on Thursday.
"He's been on the tour for, like, 20 years and I appreciate that he's got a big final in singles to play tomorrow and it's getting dark and late, second day in a row," said Murray. "But he did really, really well. Yeah, it was a great, great effort from him."
Lopez's day and Murray's time off appeared to have caught up with them in their semifinal against John Peers and Henri Kontinen, one of the tour's most skilled doubles teams. But despite encountering some trouble, they would serve for a straight-sets win:
Peers and Kontinen would break serve in the nick of time to set up a second-set tiebreaker, which they won. But in the 10-point superbreaker, it was—who else?—Lopez that finished off his third win of the day, and his second with Murray, with an unreturned serve.
"How's the body?" Lopez was asked afterward. "I don't really know," he understandably replied.
Feli, you sure earned that Pimm's.
