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Roddick rallies to advance in San Jose
Source: Agencies |
February 12, 2010, Friday
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ANDY Roddick brushed off a second set fightback by Ryler DeHeart to defeat the qualifier 6-1, 7-6 and advance to the second round of the San Jose Open in California on Wednesday.
Roddick, the world No. 7, breezed through the first set but was broken early to trail 0-3 in the second.
Fellow American DeHeart served for the set at 5-3 but could not close it out as the big-serving Roddick fought back to force a tie-breaker, then sealed it 7-1 with a forehand winner.
Playing in his first match since his Australian Open quarterfinal defeat, Roddick finished with 11 aces and will next meet Leonardo Mayer in the second round.
Earlier, Czech Radek Stepanek became the first defending champion to lose in the tournament's first round in 20 years when he was ousted by Belgian Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-4.
German fourth seed Tommy Haas was also eliminated, falling 6-7, 2-6 to Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin in the second round of the US$531,000 hardcourt tournament.
Another seed, Fernando Verdasco of Spain, had to battle hard to avoid joining Stepanek and Haas on the way home but the second-seed prevailed over Lu Yen-hsun 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 in the last match of the day.
Third seed Stepanek had four break points against Malisse, but it was the Belgian who made the most of his chances, breaking once in each set to upset the world No. 14.
"It's always tough to play the champion of the previous year because obviously they felt pretty good here, and everybody likes the winner of last year," Malisse told reporters.
"I've been injured for a while, so this time I had no pressure on me ... There was nothing to lose."
The victory was the former top 20 player's first on tour since June.
Losing finalist
Stepanek had beaten American Mardy Fish for the title last year and was a losing finalist to Andy Roddick in 2008.
Haas failed to convert five break point chances in the opening set against Istomin, who will play sixth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber in the quarterfinals after the German thrashed Israel's Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-0.
Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych also made the quarterfinals, posting a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Finland's Jarkko Nieminen.
In Rotterdam, Russian second seed Nikolay Davydenko easily overcame a potentially tough challenger in Spaniard Feliciano Lopez to reach the second round of the World Indoor Tournament with a 6-4 6-2 win on Wednesday.
Davydenko, the world number six, had beaten Lopez only once in five previous meetings and had to wait until the ninth game of the first set to break the Spaniard's service.
The Russian took the first set and settled the match with an early double break in the second to leave Lopez still without a win in Rotterdam in his fifth attempt.
Davydenko will face Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis who brushed aside James Blake 6-4 6-2. Swede Robin Soderling overcame Dutch qualifier Igor Sijsling 7-6, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals.
Roddick, the world No. 7, breezed through the first set but was broken early to trail 0-3 in the second.
Fellow American DeHeart served for the set at 5-3 but could not close it out as the big-serving Roddick fought back to force a tie-breaker, then sealed it 7-1 with a forehand winner.
Playing in his first match since his Australian Open quarterfinal defeat, Roddick finished with 11 aces and will next meet Leonardo Mayer in the second round.
Earlier, Czech Radek Stepanek became the first defending champion to lose in the tournament's first round in 20 years when he was ousted by Belgian Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-4.
German fourth seed Tommy Haas was also eliminated, falling 6-7, 2-6 to Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin in the second round of the US$531,000 hardcourt tournament.
Another seed, Fernando Verdasco of Spain, had to battle hard to avoid joining Stepanek and Haas on the way home but the second-seed prevailed over Lu Yen-hsun 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 in the last match of the day.
Third seed Stepanek had four break points against Malisse, but it was the Belgian who made the most of his chances, breaking once in each set to upset the world No. 14.
"It's always tough to play the champion of the previous year because obviously they felt pretty good here, and everybody likes the winner of last year," Malisse told reporters.
"I've been injured for a while, so this time I had no pressure on me ... There was nothing to lose."
The victory was the former top 20 player's first on tour since June.
Losing finalist
Stepanek had beaten American Mardy Fish for the title last year and was a losing finalist to Andy Roddick in 2008.
Haas failed to convert five break point chances in the opening set against Istomin, who will play sixth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber in the quarterfinals after the German thrashed Israel's Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-0.
Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych also made the quarterfinals, posting a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Finland's Jarkko Nieminen.
In Rotterdam, Russian second seed Nikolay Davydenko easily overcame a potentially tough challenger in Spaniard Feliciano Lopez to reach the second round of the World Indoor Tournament with a 6-4 6-2 win on Wednesday.
Davydenko, the world number six, had beaten Lopez only once in five previous meetings and had to wait until the ninth game of the first set to break the Spaniard's service.
The Russian took the first set and settled the match with an early double break in the second to leave Lopez still without a win in Rotterdam in his fifth attempt.
Davydenko will face Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis who brushed aside James Blake 6-4 6-2. Swede Robin Soderling overcame Dutch qualifier Igor Sijsling 7-6, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals.
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