Juan Martin Del Potro spoiled Andy Roddick’s return to the tour after a month-long hiatus by upsetting the top seed and world No. 5 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 to win the Washington Classic on Sunday.
The 20-year-old Argentine won the final-set tiebreak 8-6, clinching the two-and-a-half hour slugfest with a scorching forehand that was ruled good after an appeal.
“It was so difficult,” Del Potro said after successfully defending his title. “When you are so close in the third set, you don’t want to lose. I was fighting with everything I had.”
PHOTO: AFP
Roddick, playing his first tournament since losing to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final last month, saved a match point on Del Potro’s serve at 5-6 in the tiebreaker.
Del Potro, however, aced his next serve and then sealed his second tournament win of the year with a forehand that Roddick challenged, but which the replay showed had just nicked the line.
“I thought it might have been out,” Roddick said. “I asked him when he was standing there [at the net] and he also said he thought it might have been out.”
PHOTO: AFP
“Imagine his disappointment when it wasn’t,” he added with a smirk.
With temperatures hovering around 35ºC, Roddick said he believed the second-seeded Del Potro was trying to end points quickly to save his energy.
“Today was brutal,” Roddick said. “It was hot. I think he might have been feeling it more than I did. He didn’t want to get in the long points and was going for broke there at the end. He was rolling the dice. I forced him to play high-risk tennis with the conditions. He was taking big cuts, especially for the last 30 minutes, and connecting.”
Del Potro gift-wrapped the first break of the final set when he punched an easy overhead wide and then double-faulted on consecutive points to give Roddick a 2-1 lead.
Roddick handed the donation back, however, losing the sixth game to love by double-faulting at break point.
“I played one bad point and that was the double [fault] on break point,” Roddick said. “To get to love-40, I put in three first serves. He was taking big swings and converting.”
The 26-year-old Roddick, who spent the last month recovering from a hip injury, said he was pleased with his effort, especially with the US Open on the horizon.
“I’m not far off from where I was toward the end of Wimbledon,” he said. “Coming in after being off for a month you want to fine out where your form is at. To come in here and beat some players and have a look at winning this week, I feel a lot better about my game now than I did when I first got here.”
■LA CHAMPIONSHIPS
REUTERS, LOS ANGELES
Italy’s Flavia Pennetta outran and outsmarted Australian Samantha Stosur to win the LA Championships with a 6-4, 6-3 victory in Sunday’s final.
Pennetta stayed strong throughout the contest, while Stosur’s game fell apart and she was unable to dictate with the big serve and forehand that had carried her to wins over Ana Ivanovic, Zheng Jie and Sorana Cirstea.
“I was afraid of her serve, but I returned unbelievable and I think that was the most important thing today,” said Pennetta, who was set to rise to No. 12 in the rankings when they were released yesterday. “I’ve never won a tournament this size and I’m really happy.”
The title was the 27-year-old Pennetta’s eighth overall, while Stosur, seeded 13th, had been aiming for her first WTA title.
The Australian finished with 32 unforced errors to on 16 by Pennetta.
“Sure, I’m disappointed,” said the 25-year-old Stosur, who has yet to clinch a title in five finals. “I would have loved to win my first title today, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
The 10th seed knocked off second seed Vera Zvonareva and three-time grand slam champion Maria Sharapova en route to the crown.
Pennetta broke Stosur to win the contest when she exhausted the Australian in a long rally and finally took it with a forehand crosscourt winner.
In the doubles final, Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan and Yan Zi of China, defeated Maria Kirilenko of Russia and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, 6-0, 4-6 (10-7).
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS