Andy Roddick won his third consecutive title at Kooyong yesterday and said he'd happily exchange them all for one at the Australian Open.
"Is there a three-for-one special deal -- 3 AAMIs for an Aussie Open?" Roddick joked with the crowd, excusing himself if he sounded ungrateful, after a 7-5, 6-3 win over Marcos Baghdatis.
Roddick beat top-ranked Roger Federer at the Kooyong exhibition last year, then lost a lopsided semi-final to the Swiss star at the Australian Open.
PHOTO: AFP
He did not drop a set this year as he matched Michael Chang's three straight titles from 1995. Andre Agassi won three titles in four years in a streak broken by Pete Sampras' win in 2002.
Now he wants to improve his record at the Australian Open, where his best results have been semi-finals appearances in 2005 and last year.
"I'm still young and hungry at 25," Roddick said, hoping that the elation that came with leading the US to its Davis Cup win was still fresh enough to help him end a run of 16 majors without a title since his only Grand Slam win at the 2003 US Open.
"It was great to win that Davis Cup -- to get to feel something like that so recently makes you want to win even more," he said.
Roddick started and finished with aces against Baghdatis, who was runner-up to Federer in the 2006 Australian Open.
The 22-year-old Cypriot was a late inclusion in the eight-man invitational draw at Kooyong after Federer withdrew because of a serious stomach illness.
Baghdatis has a tough opening week at Melbourne Park, facing 2002 champion Thomas Johansson in the opening round in a difficult side of the draw that also includes 2005 champion Marat Safin, 2005 finalist Lleyton Hewitt and No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic.
"I know it's a bit tough, but life is tough -- at least, my life was tough -- so I guess I have to accept it and deal with it and try to do as best as I can," Baghdatis said.
Roddick, in the same half of the Australian Open draw as No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal, has a qualifier in the first round followed by a possible meeting with young American player Donald Young in the second round.
Twelve days after winning her second Grand Slam title at the French Open, Coco Gauff fell at the first hurdle on grass in Berlin on Thursday as beaten Paris finalist Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the quarter-finals. Recipient of a first round bye, American Gauff lost 6-3, 6-3 to Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu as world number one Sabalenka beat Rebeka Masarova 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) in her second round tie. Winner of 10 main tour titles, including the US Open in 2023 and the WTA Finals last year, Gauff has yet to lift a trophy in a grass-court tournament. “After I won the first
While British star Jack Draper spent the past week trying to find rhythm and comfort in his first grass tournament of the season at the Queen’s Club Championships in London, Jiri Lehecka on Saturday bulldozed everything in his path. After more than two furious hours of battle, their form was reflected in the final scoreline as Lehecka toppled a frustrated Draper, the second seed, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to reach the biggest final of his career, against Carlos Alcaraz. Lehecka is also the first Czech to reach the men’s title match at Queen’s since Ivan Lendl lifted the trophy in 1990. Draper, who
Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka staged a “crazy comeback,” saving four match points before beating Elena Rybakina 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (6) in the quarter-finals of the Berlin Open on Friday. Sabalenka was 6-2 down in the final-set tie-breaker, but won six straight points to reach her eighth semi-final of the season. “Elena is a great player and we’ve had a lot of tough battles,” Sabalenka said. “I have no idea how I was able to win those last points. I think I just got lucky.” “I remember a long time ago when I was just starting, I won a lot of matches being down
The Canterbury Crusaders edged the Waikato Chiefs 16-12 in an intense Super Rugby Pacific final battle in Christchurch yesterday to claim their 15th title in 30 years of the Southern Hemisphere competition. Hooker Codie Taylor scored a try and Rivez Reihana contributed 11 points from the kicking tee as the most dominant team in Super Rugby history extended their perfect home playoff record to 32 successive matches since 1998. The Chiefs, who were looking for a first title since 2013, scored first-half tries through George Dyer and Shaun Stevenson, but were unable to register a point after the break and fell to
RSS