LONDON: Andy Roddick's hopes of an extended Wimbledon warm-up suffered a blow on Thursday when he was beaten at Queen's Club by inspired Israeli Dudi Sela.
The American four-time champion of the grasscourt event lost 6-4 7-6 in overcast conditions in west London as Sela set up a quarter-final against Germany's Rainer Schuettler.
Schuettler did not even need to hit a ball in his third round match against Richard Gasquet after the Frenchman pulled out with a back injury.
Top seed and new world number one Rafael Nadal is also in third round action later against Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin while reigning champion Andy Murray plays American Mardy Fish.
Last year's Wimbledon runner-up Roddick, always one of the dangermen during the brief grass-court season, was in trouble against Sela from the moment he lost his serve in the third game of the match on center court.
The American could make little impression on the Sela serve, his only break point coming in the second game of the match which the 14th seed saved.
Roddick saved a break point at 5-5 in the second set with a controversial ace, the ball audibly flicking the net tape as it arrowed down the middle.
In the tiebreak Roddick pushed a volley wide on the first of two set points that came his way, Sela saving the second with after running Roddick all over the court.
Sela then earned a match point at 8-7 which he failed to take after a mishit backhand flew wide but when his second opportunity arrived he finished the match with a superb diving volley into an open court.
In Halle, Germany, Roger Federer continued to fine tune his grasscourt game for Wimbledon with a 51-minute victory over Colombian Alejandro Falla on Thursday earning a quarterfinal place at the Halle Open.
The 16-times grand slam champion, who has won the Wimbledon warm-up event five times but skipped it last year, barely broke sweat in a 6-1 6-2 victory.
Federer, who lost his world No. 1 ranking to Rafael Nadal after being beaten in the quarter-finals of the French Open last week, faces Philipp Kohlschreiber next after the German put out Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 6-4 7-5.
French Open semi-finalist Juergen Melzer, seeded sixth, suffered a shock 3-6 7-6 7-6 defeat by young German Mischa Zverev.
Former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt went through with a 6-3 6-3 defeat of Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker.
