Powerful Serve Helps Roddick Progress in Washington
Top-seeded at Washington Classic tournament Andy Roddick overcame less-known Slovenian Grega Zemlja in the second round to beat him in two straight similar sets, 6-4, 6-4. It’s no longer a wonder the US player focused on his powerful serves to down the Slovenian who barely got reactions. Roddick’s victory dues to an incredible 90 percent success at first serve, burying in this way his opponent. Right after the match ended the American declared he bet mostly on the serves to get the win: “Tonight it was like a pitcher’s count in baseball. I wasn’t behind. I wasn’t battling the love-15, 15-30 games. I was control of my own service games, which was good.”
“I didn’t dig myself many holes out there.” Roddick will meet in the third round French Gilles Simon who defeated in the second round Russian Igor Kunitsyn in two easy sets, 6-1, 6-2. The second round didn’t produce any surprise so far. Croatian Marin Cilic and American Mardy Fish will meet in the third round too, after the two players defeated on one hand Denis Istomin with 6-4, 6-2, and on the other Serbian Viktor Troicki this one conceding a 6-4, 6-3 loss from the US player. Veteran James Blake’s opponent in the first round Ryan Sweeting will meet strong Fernando Verdasco in the third round, while already notorious John Isner, who played this spring the longest match in history at Wimbledon, will face Belgian Xavier Malisse.
Roddick, who didn’t show pretty the previous tournaments, declared about the Slovenian he’s been playing a pretty good tennis with precise shots: “The points he was winning he was having to come up with really good shots. I wanted to put the ball in spots that made it difficult for him to attack in. I did that pretty well. The balls that he was aggressive on were low balls that he would have to get down the line, switching directions. That becomes a high-risk shot for him. He pulled a fair amount of them off. He looked real good on a lot of points but in the end he lost four and four,” the 27-year-old added.
Apart from Roddick’s progress into the third round, his compatriot Isner also claimed that despite he got the victory, he wasn’t that pleased with his tennis. This said: “He (De Bakker) served great, just like I did. I didn’t play horrible out there. I just wasn’t that sharp. But I competed pretty well, that’s what kept me in it. But honestly, he was probably the better player tonight.”
