Sports

Tennis

Roddick nearly flawless in win

Associated Press
Published January 21, 2005

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MELBOURNE, Australia - In a highly hyped showdown between the two biggest servers in tennis, Andy Roddick anticipated exactly what Greg Rusedski would offer. And Roddick pounded out a 6-0, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory to reach the third round of the Australian Open.

"I felt like I was seeing the ball from early on," Roddick said, "and I tried not to second-guess it."

The second-seeded Roddick owns the record for fastest serve at 155 mph and led the men's circuit in aces the last two seasons. He slammed 11 aces against Rusedski.

But the big difference in the match was Roddick's returns. He hit winners with almost as much speed as they had coming off Rusedski's racket.

So has Rusedski's serve lost its zing?

"No, not at all," said Roddick, who shared the record for the fastest serve with Rusedski until twice breaking the mark last season. "My returns normally aren't that good - I couldn't believe it."

With the exception of one bad game, Roddick gave top-ranked Roger Federer something to think about with a nearly flawless performance. The 2003 U.S. Open champion, now working with new coach Dean Goldfine, committed only eight unforced errors and dropped serve once.

One poorly played game cost Roddick the second set: He started and ended the eighth game with double-faults. Before that, he hadn't lost a point on serve in the second set.

Rusedski served out at love the next game, leveling at one set apiece with an ace. That was as close as he got.

Rusedski lost 10 of 11 of his first net approaches, but finished at just over 50 percent - 43 of 83 attempts. He figured he wouldn't beat the young American from the baseline.

"I tried to stick in there any which way I could," Rusedski said. "At one set all, I had a few chances, but I didn't play enough returns and didn't serve well enough. I just wasn't good enough."

No. 3 Lleyton Hewitt did more running, coming back from a set and a break down to beat Tampa's James Blake 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-0, 6-3. Blake's fortunes turned when he cut his racket hand at the end of the second set.

Hewitt weathered Blake's opening barrage, then cranked up his own serve and groundstrokes to set up a third-round match against 25th-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela, one of the four Argentinians advancing. The others were French Open finalist Guillermo Coria, No. 9 David Nalbandian and No. 12 Guillermo Canas.

Seventh-seeded Tim Henman and former top-ranked Juan Carlos Ferrero also advanced in straight sets.

Blake was one point from a two-set lead over Hewitt before he unraveled.

After failing when he served for the second set at 6-5, he clubbed two service returns into the net to give Hewitt a set point at 7-6 in the tiebreaker.

Blake smacked a backhand winner with his a service return to level at 8-8, then mimicked Hewitt's trademark celebration - pointing his fingers at his face and screaming "Come on!"

Hewitt won the next two points, the second when Blake's desperate tumbling shot landed long. Blake lost his racket in the fall, cutting the webbing between two fingers on his right hand. He regained his feet as if to play the rest of the point without his racket.

Hewitt broke to open the third set, starting a six-game winning streak.

For Blake, just getting back onto the circuit was important. Almost pulling a shocking win over Hewitt would have been a bonus.

The American broke his neck in May crashing into the net during a practice session in Rome. His father died of cancer in July. And Blake was sidelined by an illness called Zoster - a form of the shingles that impaired his sight and hearing and temporarily paralyzed half of his face.

"I've obviously had some tragedies, some unfortunate situations but, to look at the big picture, I'm a lucky person," Blake said. "The worst thing that happened to me all day is I lost a tennis match. I can't sit around and mope and go cry in my dinner or anything. I'm going to try to have a good time and enjoy my time still here in Melbourne," where he and friend Mardy Fish are paired in the men's doubles.

In women's play, second-ranked Amelie Mauresmo kept her composure while teenager Ana Ivanovic lost hers, advancing to the fourth round of the Australian Open with 6-2, 7-5 victory.

Ivanovic, 17. broke Mauresmo's serve twice in the second set, but dropped her next two service games. After having game point to force a second-set tiebreaker, Ivanovic struggled to combat Mauresmo's slice backhand and made a string of errors, surrendering the match.

Mauresmo rose to the No. 1 ranking last September before slipping behind Lindsay Davenport. Ivanovic made the biggest leap in the rankings on the WTA Tour in 2004, moving 608 spots to finish at No. 97.

Ivanovic, who won her first WTA Tour title in Canberra last week, hit 20 of her 34 unforced errors in the second set, and made double-faults in the sixth and eighth games to either give Mauresmo break points or the game.

Venus Williams continued to play well in her bid to return to the top of the game, beating China's Peng Shuai 6-3, 6-1.

[Last modified January 21, 2005, 00:30:24]

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