Andy Roddick refocused after losing his cool yesterday to win a tight battle against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 and advance to the third round of the Shanghai Masters.
The American 10th seed won a first set tiebreak and sealed victory after clinching a topsy-turvy second set that contained five breaks of serve.
After Dimitrov broke Roddick in the ninth game of the second set to lead 5-4, the American smashed his bag repeatedly in frustration, but immediately broke back to level at 5-5.
Photo: Reuters
Speaking about the incident, Roddick said: “I don’t know that I made a first serve that game, you know, so that was frustrating for me.”
“I mean, I felt like I was returning pretty well and hitting my forehand pretty well. Then all of a sudden I’m not putting a first serve in the court. So I was kind of pissed,” he said. “I felt like I was getting it backwards a little bit. The guy doubles three times and lets you back in, then you kind of donate it right back, that’s not normally a recipe to win a match.”
However, Roddick added: “There’s no such thing as a bad win. I’ll keep going in this tournament, hopefully.”
Photo: AFP
Swiss 13th seed Stanislas Wawrinka joined Roddick in the third round after a 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 victory over Donald Young of the US and France’s Gilles Simon, seeded eighth, eased past Spain’s Albert Montanes 6-1, 6-1.
Earlier, Germany’s Florian Mayer, the 15th seed, beat former world No. 3 David Nalbandian 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round and seventh seed Nicolas Almagro defeated Spanish compatriot Tommy Robredo 7-5, 6-3.
In first-round clashes, Serbian ninth seed Janko Tipsarevic crashed out to Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-7 (2/7), 6-7 (3/7), dealing a heavy blow to his hopes of reaching the ATP World Tour Finals.
Tipsarevic won his first ATP title earlier this month at the Malaysian Open, but he also lost in the first round of the Japan Open last week.
Tipsarevic’s Serbian compatriot, Viktor Troicki, seeded 11, also lost, beaten in straight sets by Ryan Harrison of the US.
Austrian 14th seed Jurgen Melzer, who defeated Rafael Nadal to reach the quarter-finals in Shanghai last year, beat Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic and Alexandr Dolgopolov, seeded 12, beat Lukasz Kubot of Poland.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori overcame a disastrous start against Robin Haase to defeat the Dutchman 0-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/5).
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two