Roddick Upset; Scary Del Potro Blasts Berdych in Rotterdam, Awaits Federer?
- 118 Comments
It was another early loss for Andy Roddick. Struggling with a bad ankle he injured on Wedneday night, Roddick was upset last night in San Jose by Denis Istomin 6-2, 6-4.
“It would be abnormal if you weren’t frustrated,” said Roddick, a 3-time San Jose champion. “The question is, ‘How do you figure your way through it?’
“It was pretty ordinary all the way around,” he added. “There’s certainly a significant gap from where I am and where I need to be.”
Roddick will try to move on to Memphis where he will have to defend his 2011 title and a hefty 500 ranking points. Even if the ankle heals the former No. 1 is really on the slide. As Roddick rightly said, the gap is there.
Roddick isn’t the only one under the injury bug in San Jose. Defending champion Milos Raonic has questions about his left knee at the start of the event. The Canadian, though, has still managed to reach the semifinals after easing past big-serving Kevin Anderson 7-5, 7-6 yesterday.
“Obviously, I’m feeling a little bit of discomfort with it but it’s not affecting my tennis at all,” Raonic said. “I’m moving well and I think I’m doing the things I want to be doing.”
Today, Roanic meets rising American Ryan Harrison in the early 4pm ET semifinal. Harrison beat Raonic last year at Indian Wells and as part of his maturation process, the fiery 19-year-old is trying to keep his emotions more in check.
“I’m an emotional person, always have been,” Harrison said. “Whenever you see me grit my face or roll my eyes a bit, that’s kind of my way of saying, ‘Let it go. Let’s move on.’ There are no racquet throws, no profanity, nothing that has to do with embarrassing myself or getting any fines. I feel like that’s a step in the right direction for me. Hopefully, I can get to the point where I can cut out everything in general and be Federer-like, but that’s very tough.”
In the late semifinal Istomin meets Julien Benneteau.
Already In Rotterdam, Juan Martin Del Potro had his way with Tomas Berdych crushing the Czech 6-3, 6-1. Delpo lost just one game to Viktor Troicki yesterday, and today he absolutely blasted Berdych. That’s some very scary stuff from the Argentine, beating both those guys that easily indoors!
In the late semifinal, 30-year-olds Roger Federer and Nikolay Davydenko collide for the 19th time. Federer has won 16 of them and should get No. 17 despite the Nikolay’s improved play this week. Davydenko just handled Richard Gasquet, so it’s nice to have former Top 5 Russian bad playing decent tennis again.
The semifinals are set on the clay in Sao Paulo. Top seed and defending champ Nicolas Almagro faces Albert Ramos, who upset Fernando Verdasco in the quarters. Then it’s Bellucci and Volandri.
And on the women’s circuit in Doha, the semifinals pit Samantha Stosur vs. Marion Bartoli followed by Victoria Azarenka vs. Agnieszka Radwanska.
Tennis Channel has semifinal coverage all day from Rotterdam, Doha and San Jose.
You Might Like:
Federer Tries To Join Del Potro, Berdych In Rotterdam SFs; Roddick Tests Ankle In San Jose
Roger Federer Takes Rotterdam Wildcard, Could Get No. 1 At Event
Murray’s Misery Mounts; Raonic Blasts Blake, Berankis Next at San Jose
Roddick Nearly Tumbles Out Of San Jose; Federer Wins; Caroline Continues To Crumble
Federer Tries To Stop The Rot; Roddick, Raonic Return From Injury In San Jose