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Tuesday saw Feliciano Lopez play his first match at his last ever tournament, the Mallorca Championships. Not only did he delay his goodbye to the ATP Tour with a convincing win, he also sealed another record to cap off his long career.
The Spaniard, who beat Max Purcell 6-3, 7-5 in round one, served up 11 aces. According to Infosys ATP Stats, his new haul of 10,244 untouched serves puts him fourth on the all-time list of career aces.
The 41-year-old Toledo native leapfrogged serving great Goran Ivanisevic on the list. The Croatian was one of his childhood heroes.
“It’s a good stat, because Ivanisevic was one of my favourite players,” Feliciano told ATPTour.com. “When I was little, I always dreamed of being able to serve like him one day and now I’ve overtaken him on the list.
“I knew that I was among the top seven or eight, but I didn’t know exactly where. Surpassing Ivanisevic is a great achievement, I can’t say anything else. Thanks for letting me know,” he concluded with a smile.
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To find the next Spaniard on the list you have to go down to Nicolas Almagro, who had a total of 5,493, while Fernando Verdasco completes the honourary podium with 5,422.
On Wednesday, Lopez will be back on court in the second round of the Mallorca Championships against Jordan Thompson. Once again, he will be battling to make sure it is not the last match of his career.
Editor’s Note: ATP began keeping ace statistics in 1991. Ivanisevic turned pro in 1988.
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