Roddick ready to put friendship on hold
Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:37
Two-time finalist Roddick and Austrian left-hander Melzer have been friends for a decade, but that will be forgotten when they step out onto Centre Court looking to book a place in the last 16.
“We enjoy each other’s company a little bit. We’ve kind of developed a little bit of a friendship over the 10 years we’ve been on tour now,” said Roddick, beaten in the final at the All England Club by Roger Federer in both 2004 and 2005.
He added: “We’ve known each other probably 10 years now, going back to juniors. We kind of grew up together. But to be professional you leave that kind of courtesy in the locker room when you go out on the court.”
Also in action today is 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt, the Australian taking on Germany’s Philipp Petzschner on Court Two following his impressive victory over fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro in the second round. Nikolay Davydenko and Tomas Berdych, 12th and 20th seeds respectively, clash on Court One, which is also the venue for Fernando Gonzalez to take on Juan Carlos Ferrero.
The bottom half of the fourth round was decided yesterday, with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Ivo Karlovic among those progressing to the last 16 on Monday.
Federer surprisingly dropped his first set of the championships but responded in style to beat Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3 6-2 6-7 6-1 and set up a rematch of the French Open final against Robin Soderling.
Karlovic won an unsurprisingly serve-dominated clash with ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 6ft 10in Croatian winning 7-6 6-7 7-5 7-6 on Court One. Karlovic hammered down 46 aces and will now take on Spain’s Fernando Verdasco in the fourth round after the seventh seed recovered from a set down to beat compatriot Albert Montanes in four sets.
Djokovic beat American Mardy Fish 6-4 6-4 6-4 and will face surprise package Dudi Sela of Israel after the world number 46 beat 15th seed Tommy Robredo in four sets.
Marin Cilic and Tommy Haas were producing one of Wimbledon’s classic encounters before bad light brought an end to a five-set thriller on Number One Court last night, and they will resume this afternoon locked at 6-6 in the deciding set.
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