A testy Andy Roddick was upset by Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 6-1 on Monday in the first round of the Western & Southern Open, a key warm-up for the US Open.
The 11th-seeded Roddick received a warning from the chair umpire for flinging his racket to the court after losing the second set.
Then, after double-faulting in the second game of the third set to fall behind 30-40, he smacked a ball high into the stands, which prompted chair umpire Carlos Bernardes to give him a point penalty that put him behind 2-0 in the set.
Photo: Reuters
“Obviously a split-second thing,” Roddick said. “Soon as I hit it, I wanted it back.”
The German later closed out the match with an ace.
“It was a judgement call for [Bernardes],” Roddick said. “Pretty sure I saw an eight-year-old girl catch it on the way down. He was telling me I hit it as hard as I could. I was like: ‘Dude ...’”
Photo: AFP
Roddick said he would like to see players get a little more leeway in those situations. He said John McEnroe, for instance, is “still getting endorsements” because of his legendary temper tantrums on court.
“I understand where [Bernardes] is coming from, but at a certain point, you know, you hit a tennis ball into a stadium, someone goes home with a souvenir and it pretty much ruins the match from there” to penalize the player, Roddick said.
“Seems counterproductive,” Roddick added.
Photo: AFP
As the match went on, Kohlschreiber could see Roddick’s frustration growing and he took advantage of it.
“I started guessing right and returning balls,” the 47th-ranked German said. “I took the chances and he got a little frustrated.”
Also in Monday’s first round, Italy’s Fabio Fognini upset 14th-seeded Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-1 — his first win over the Serb in three matches.
France’s Richard Gasquet, the 12th seed, needed a second-set tiebreaker to overcome Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-1, 7-6 (7/4).
“I did a pretty good tiebreak,” Gasquet said. “There was a lot of tension, but I knew it was important because, in the third set, you never know what can happen, so I’m happy.”
In other matches, Spain’s Fernando Verdasco defeated Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 7-6 (7/4); Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov beat Turkey’s Marsel Ilhan 6-3, 7-5; Feliciano Lopez fought off fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; and Argentina’s David Nalbandian beat Japan’s Kai Nishikori 6-4, 6-4.
On the women’s side, former US and French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 14th seed, beat qualifier Jill Craybas of the US 6-3, 6-4.
Ninth-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany rallied after losing the first set to pull out a 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 win over Slovakian Jarmila Gajdosova.
Petkovic felt she almost didn’t deserve to win the grueling match, which lasted nearly three hours.
“I feel terrible,” she said. “I feel awful, really, because [Gajdosova] was playing incredible. She was just hitting winners all over.”
Ana Ivanovic of Serbia also rolled to a 6-0, 6-2 win over qualifier Alexa Glatch of the US. The former world No. 1 needed just 26 minutes to win the first set and exactly an hour to finish the match.
Ivanovic said afterwards she was hoping for a quick start.
“It was very important, especially knowing she had a couple of matches under her belt,” said Ivanovic, who was forced to retire with a foot injury while playing Kim Clijsters in last year’s semi-finals.
In two early upsets, Australian qualifier Anastasia Rodionova, ranked 139th, routed No. 42 Polona Hercog 6-0, 6-0, while No. 101 Chanelle Scheepers, a qualifier from South Africa, eliminated 39th-ranked Canadian Rebecca Marino 7-5, 6-2.
Also, Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko defeated Japan’s Ayumi Morita 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Israel’s Shahar Peer beat Germany’s Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 7-6 (7/4); Czech qualifier Petra Cetkovska defeated Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues 2-6, 6-2, 6-2; and Italy’s Sara Errani beat US qualifier Sloane Stephens 6-1, 7-5.
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