Big four go through, Roddick goes home
Originally published on: 26/02/10 11:41
American Sam Querrey has been enjoying some red hot tennis this summer and his impressive form continued in Cincinnati on Wednesday night when he beat world No.5 Andy Roddick.
The 6ft 6 giant from California, who made finals in Newport and Indianapolis before winning in LA in late July, came through in the night session thanks to two tough tie-breaks, clinching the first 13-11 and the second 7-3.
“Definitely one of my best wins ever,” said Querrey, who goes on to face Lleyton Hewitt. “Probably the best for me. You know, feels pretty good.”
Roddick was full of praise. “He’s gotten a lot faster,” the Wimbledon runner-up said. “He’s moving a lot better. He’s not playing himself out of points quite as much. He’s got a better sense of when to pull the trigger and when to stay in points.”
Up until then, day three of the $3 million tournament had gone according to plan for the big boys with all four top seeds progressing in straight sets.
Top seed Roger Federer, playing his second tournament since becoming a dad, had too much in the locker for Argentine Jose Acasuso during a 6-3, 7-5 success. He goes on to face Spains David Ferrer on Thursday.
Second seed Rafael Nadal also came through in two sets but not without a scare or two during a 7-6(4), 7-6(3) victory over Italian Andreas Seppi. The world No.2 faces Frenchman Paul Henri Mathieu for a place in the quarter-finals.
Third seed and new world No.2 Andy Murray began his title defence against Spains Nicolas Almagro and produced a relatively trouble-free display to win 7-6(3), 6-2.
“I started to play better as the match went on,” said Murray. “It was very fast. Definitely quicker conditions than last week. Took me a few games to get used to that, but I felt comfortable on the ball… I played well on my serve.
“He’s pretty unpredictable and plays serve and volley quite a lot and uses a lot of drop shots and slice, the Scot said of his next opponent, Radek Stepanek. I need to stay focused against him because he can do some pretty weird stuff on the court and try and put you off your game.”
Fourth seed Novak Djokovic was the first big name through as he motored past Ivan Ljubicic 7-6(5), 6-4, but there was no such luck for seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who lost to Aussie qualifier Chris Guccione 7-6(12), 6-2.
Other notable results saw eighth seed Nikolay Davydenko come through against fellow Russian Igor Kunitsyn and Hewitt get the better of Benjamin Becker.
Thursday order of play
Centre Court, 12 noon start
[1] R Federer (SUI) vs D Ferrer (ESP)
[3] A Murray (GBR) vs [16] R Stepanek (CZE)
Not Before 3:00 PM
L Hewitt (AUS) vs S Querrey (USA)
Not Before 7:00 PM
P Mathieu (FRA) vs [2] R Nadal (ESP)
[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) vs M Mirnyi (BLR) / A Ram (ISR)
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