Cincinnati: Fish Overcomes Roddick to Touch the Final
It took seven years and lot of sweat for Fish to beat for the first time compatriot Andy Roddick at the Cincinnati Masters. It was an uneasy victory for Mardy, who defeated Roddick in three sets after a poor start. The semi final, which included the only two US players remained on course, ended 4-6, 7-6, 6-1 as Fish reaches the final. This will face Roger Federer, who also entered into his second consecutive final after the one lost in Toronto last weekend to Murray, after defeating Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in two straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
Fish is now in front of his third success, the player also collecting another two American titles this summer in Newport and Atlanta. Now that he has won his 34th match of the season, Mardy admitted he’s playing at the moment his best tennis. “I’ve never felt better on the court and I’ve never been more confident and I’ve never played better… I’ve won a lot of matches this summer. [The weight loss] has a ton to do with it. And being able to put in the hours, put in the work that I can on my forehand and improve some of the things I need to improve. I’ve done some things that I have never done in my career and won more matches this year up to this point than I ever have. I have a great opportunity to improve my ranking to where I’ve never been before,” while compatriot and fellow Roddick commented also the impact of the rain delays on the courts. “The first one really helped; the second one obviously didn’t. That’s the thing with rain delays. The momentum can shift really fast,” he said. “I benefited from it the first time for sure. He came out and served kind of a sluggish game right away, and I kind of matched that. And then once he got back into it, he completely outplayed me in the third set. He was swinging from the hips. Even the breaker, I didn’t play a bad breaker. I made first serves and he played well.”
However, Roddick is now looking forward for the US Open as also Murray and Nadal do, as both of them exited the Cincinnati Masters from the early quarters. “I came here and I had no expectations. For me to get in five really tough matches is more than I could’ve asked for going into the Open. Honestly, when I came here I was thinking maybe two matches we’ll see. I hadn’t really put too much time in. So beyond the disappointment that’s gonna linger for the next couple of hours, I think this week has been a complete positive considering how I felt and kind of where I was at 11 or 12 days ago,” the 13th-seeded Roddick ended.
