Andy Roddick benefited from the replay system at Queen's Club on Thursday, then held on to beat Alex Bogdanovic of the UK 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the third round of the Wimbledon warm-up tournament.
Roddick, who had 22 aces, was tied at 5-5 in the tiebreaker when he asked for the Hawk-Eye system to challenge a call. The decision was overturned, giving the US player a set point and taking away a match point for his 117th-ranked opponent.
"I've been a big supporter of Hawk-Eye and today is the reason why," Roddick said. "There's a big difference between being down match point and being up set point. Needless to say, I would have been a little perturbed if they'd have got that one wrong."
PHOTO: AFP
Bogdanovic also benefited from the replay system. Trailing 5-4 and facing a set point, he challenged a fault and Hawk-Eye showed that it was an ace.
"I though Alex played a good match," Roddick said. "He kept the pressure on me from the first ball and I was lucky to get out of there today."
Rain ended play as top-seeded Rafael Nadal was due to serve for the match while leading Max Mirnyi of Belarus 7-6 (3), 5-3.
Games went with serve in the opening set, before Nadal went on to dominate the tiebreaker. Rain halted play for over an hour early in the second set and when play resumed, Nadal broke to lead 3-1 after a backhand error from Mirnyi.
Fernando Gonzalez of Chile also advanced, beating Robby Ginepri of the US 6-2, 7-5. Croatian qualifier Marin Cilic defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
In the second round, eighth-seeded Marat Safin beat Sebastien Grosjean of France 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a match that had been suspended overnight.
The Russian won all six points played on Thursday but then lost 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4) to last year's finalist Ivo Karlovic of Croatia.
In another third round match, fifth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia led Nicolas Mahut of France 4-3 before rain interrupted play.
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