Roddick Mauled by Mirnyi at ATP Masters Series Paris

Posted on November 5, 2004

<a href='http://www.tennis-x.com/playernews/Andy-Roddick.php' id=namelink>Andy Roddick</a>

Qualifier Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, entering his match with the top-seeded Andy Roddick Thursday at the Masters Series-Paris with an 0-3 record against the American, ended two years of frustration by defeating the world No. 2 in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals.

The two had most recently faced each other during this past U.S. summer at the Masters Series-Cincinnati, where the big Belarussian choked away numerous opportunities in a 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 loss. This time the net-rushing Beast was determined not to let the opportunity pass.

"Today, I was able to be maybe more focused and play a cleaner tiebreaker than I have in the past," Mirnyi said. "By securing that first-set victory, certainly that gave me an upper hand, and I was able to relax more and convert those few break points I had in the second set."

Four seeds total were shown the door Thursday before the quarterfinals in Roddick, defending champ (3) Tim Henman (l. to Youzhny), (11) Andrei Pavel (l. to Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez in three), and (14) Nicolas "The Golden Child" Massu (l. to (2) Hewitt, retiring at 3-4 with a hip injury).

After losing the first set, Henman put the flippers on, dropping his last five service games to get an early start to Houston for the Masters Cup in Houston where he has already qualified.

Other seeded winners on the day were (6) Marat Safin (d. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer) and (13) Guillermo Canas (d. Haas).

Winners in all-unseeded matches were Swede Robin Soderling (d. (WC) Saulnier), and Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek (d. Spadea).

Winners in doubles quarterfinal play were (3) Bjorkman/Woodbridge (d. Damm/Suk, with Damm retiring with a stomach ailment), (4) Bhupathi/The Beast (d. Gonzalez/Massu by walkover with Massu's hip injury), and Frenchmen (WC) Benneteau/Mahut (d. Hrbaty/Novak).

Friday's ugly QF match-ups are Youzhny vs. (Q) Stepanek (Russian leads meetings 2-1), F-Lo vs. (13) Canas (Canas leads 2-0, both in five sets), a bright spot in (6) Safin vs. (2) Hewitt (Aussie leads 5-4), and (Q) The Beast vs. Soderling (first meeting).