Print

Mail

wiki links

Roddick upset; del Potro wins 17th straight match

Viktor Troicki of Serbia celebrates a match point against Andy Roddick during their quarter-final match at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington on Friday. Troicki defeated Roddick 0-6, 6-2, 6-4. PHOTO: AFP

Viktor Troicki eliminated top seed Andy Roddick, while Juan Martin del Potro’s winning streak continued at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic on Friday.

US player Roddick was upset by unseeded Serb Troicki 0-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the quarter-finals as Argentine second seed del Potro won his 17th straight match, a 6-4, 6-4 victory over the US’ John Isner.

Del Potro, who has won the last three tournaments he’s played in, will face fourth-seeded Tommy Haas in the semi-finals. The German was a 7-5, 6-1 winner over Colombian Alejandro Falla.

Troicki will meet Russian Igor Kunitsyn, who beat Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman 6-4, 6-1.

Roddick dominated Troicki in the first set, but ran into trouble after he was broken in the second set.

“I stopped making serves,” said Roddick, who won the event last year. “My serve was terrible, and he was playing well.”

The match was interrupted by a 57-minute rain delay with Roddick up 1-0 in the third set, and Roddick’s serving problems were the turning point. Holding serve at 3-3, Roddick double-faulted twice — including one to give Troicki the advantage a point before Roddick hit a ball long to lose the break.

Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada stretches for a forehand during her quarter-final match against Nathalie Dechy of France at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open tennis tournament in Mason, Ohio, on Friday. PHOTO: AP

“That was the best moment for me in the match,” Troicki said.

Roddick needed to save match-point twice in a two-hour, 43-

minute victory against Eduardo Schwank on Thursday night. Against Troicki, he was unable to pull out another comeback.

Troicki had two aces in the final game to cap the win.

Del Potro has made almost no mistakes in the last month and a half. His last loss came in the second round of Wimbledon on June 25. The 19-year-old Argentine has risen to No. 19 in the world rankings.



■CINCINNATI OPEN

AP, MASON, OHIO

Unseeded Nathalie Dechy continued her best run of the year, moving into the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Women’s Open by beating sixth-seeded Aleksandra Wozniak 7-6 (4), 7-5 on Friday.

Second-seeded Nadia Petrova, third-seeded Maria Kirilenko and fifth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo also advanced.

Kirilenko shook off a sluggish second set to beat Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, while Petrova sailed past wild card Lilia Osterloh of the United States 6-2, 6-3 to set up an all-Russian semi-final between the doubles partners.

Mauresmo, the two-time Grand Slam winner who has gone 18 months without a title, defeated Vania King of the US 6-2, 6-4 to make the other semi an all-French clash.

She leads Dechy 5-2 in matchups, including a win in Australia in January.

Dechy, who won her only WTA Tour title in 2003 at Gold Coast, fought off two set points with Wozniak serving up 5-3 in the first set.

Kirilenko took a locker-room break before the third set, which she said helped her regain her concentration.

“It helped calm me down,” Kirilenko said. “I decided to just focus on every point, and I started feeling better.”
This story has been viewed 584 times.