Roddick Leads Five Americans into Memphis 2nd RD; Verdasco v. Raonic Rematch Tonight
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The Americans had a great day Tuesday in Memphis. No fewer than five yanks were in the win column led by Andy Roddick and Sam Querrey who both came from a set down to win last night. ADHEREL
I though Roddick would be in for a struggle against Richard Bernankis and he got one. Roddick won in the end 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 paced by 23 aces.
“I know I didn’t play well, but there are two options going into a day, one is winning and one is losing,” said Roddick. “I’m happy I was able to win today.”
I didn’t watch the match – I’m not sure anyone outside of the stadium saw it – but it sounds like Roddick took a more aggressive approach than what we have seem from him lately.
“It was one of those days where I felt if I made a first serve the point was done, I didn’t have to do much work after that,” Roddick said. “That gave me a chance, and I played a little bit more aggressive in the third set.”
“I don’t think we got a true sense of what kind of player he is because I provided zero rhythm out there,” Roddick said of Berankis. “Which may have worked to my advantage in third set. He hadn’t hardly played any points besides my serve and then all of a sudden on a big point he had to put a ball in play. That’s tough.”
Roddick’s win moves him into a US Open rematch against Janko Tipsarevic tomorrow.
Also last night, Sam Querrey avoided a seventh straight loss by sneaking past Denis Istomin 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-4.
“Sometimes all it takes is one match to kind of get the ball rolling,” said Querrey who is defending his title points from a year ago. “Last year I kind of started off similar, I lost my first three matches of the year and then kind of toughed a match in San Jose and things started to get going.”
James Blake, Mardy Fish and Michael Russel (who beat Ivo Karlovic) were also winners yesterday.
Today’s lineup boasts two great night matches with Fernando Verdasco v. Milos Raonic in a reprise of their San Jose final Sunday, and then Juan Martin Del Potro will slug it out with John Isner.
First to the Vedasco match. After that disappointing loss Sunday for Verdasco I have to think Milos is a little in the Spaniard’s head – something not terribly hard to do! So a mental edge to Raonic, but I think the second time around seeing the Canadian’s serve should give Nando a nervy win here.
As for Delpo v. Isner, I have to give the edge to Delpo. Remember with his height and wingspan he can neutralize the Isner serve far better than smaller guys, and of course he has his own monster serve. And even though he’s not back at full strength he showed some good form last week in San Jose, so I think he’ll get the win in a tight match.
Roddick is also back to play doubles with Ryan Harrison and Lleyton Hewitt and Fish are also in action on Stadium court.
Across the way in Marseille, we have a couple of good matches with JW Tsonga v. Sergei Stakhovsky and Nikolay Davydenko v. Gilles Simon.
WEDNESDAY MEMPHIS SCHEDULE
STADIUM start 10:00 am
C Vandeweghe (USA) vs A Stevenson (USA) – WTA
L Hewitt (AUS) vs [7] Y Lu (TPE) – ATP
X Malisse (BEL) / J Murray (GBR) vs [WC] R Harrison (USA) / A Roddick (USA) – ATP- After Suitable Rest
L Lacko (SVK) vs [4] M Fish (USA) – ATP
Not Before 7:00 PM
[WC] M Raonic (CAN) vs [2] F Verdasco (ESP) – ATP
[WC] J Del Potro (ARG) vs [6] J Isner (USA) – ATP
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