Roddick romps to victory
SAN JOSE (California): Top seed Andy Roddick began his North American campaign by crushing Belgium’s Christophe Rochus 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the San Jose Open on Wednesday.
Third seed Mardy Fish, on the other hand, had to call on all his reserves in a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2) second round win over Denmark’s Kenneth Carlsen.
Fourth seed Taylor Dent, however, fell 6-4, 6-4 to fellow American and wildcard Robert Kendrick, also in the second round.
The contest between the tall Roddick, the world’s fastest server, and the short Rochus delighted the crowd, with the smaller man attempting to trip up the American by scampering to the net and attempting tight angles with his ground-strokes.
In the end though, the American was much too powerful, cracking 16 aces and 13 more winners to only 16 total winners for Rochus.
Roddick did not always have his rhythm with his second serve, but once he established his footing on the high bouncing indoor court, he was lethal.
In the fifth game of the second set, Roddick cracked a 143mph ace, a 136mph service winner, a 137mph ace and a 136mph ace. Last Friday in the Davis Cup, Roddick set the world record for service speed at 150mph (241.4kph).
“There’s so much intensity in his game,” Rochus said.
“Everything was so fast. I never played someone who served so fast. Plus his forehand is so heavy. You always have the feeling that you are late on the ball.”
Roddick, who lost the world number one ranking to Swiss Roger Federer at the Australian Open, said Rochus had put up a good fight.
“I thought he was handling my stuff decently,” Roddick said.
“I thought he hit a lot of good shots and fought his way back into the first set. But I also felt it was a matter of time before I got used to the new court and new surroundings.”
Fish had a mixed match against left-hander Carlsen. He failed to serve out the match at 5-3 in the third set and fought off a break point at 5-5 with an ace.
But the American played a brilliant third set tiebreak with five winners, including two outright return of serve winners that left Carlsen gasping.
PARIS: Former champion Mary Pierce of France brushed aside eighth-seeded Spaniard Magui Serna in straight sets to advance to the quarter-finals of the Paris Indoor Open here yesterday.
Pierce took the tie on her fourth match point 6-2, 6-4 after one hour and 19 minutes on court and next meets either Russian Elena Bovina or fourth seed Jelena Dokic of Serbia-Montenegro for a place in the semi-finals.
Earlier, Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova was forced to pull out of her second round match with breathing problems.
Hantuchova had said after winning her first-round encounter with France’s Sandrine Testud that she was suffering from a cold.
French 16-year-old Tatiana Golovin will thus go through to the quarter-finals, where she will meet second-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva today. – Agencies
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