The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Roddick rallies from the brink

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 26, 2004

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Sport - Tennis

Roddick rallies from the brink

INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 25. Nothing quite like a tie-breaker to get Andy Roddick going. Roddick fell into a big deficit and faced three match points before coming back to beat Ivan Ljubicic 1-6, 7-6(10), 7-6(3) in the RCA Championships semifinals on Saturday.

Roddick, who improved to 14-1 in tie-breakers since the French Open, will face Nicolas Kiefer in the final. Kiefer breezed past Gregory Carraz 6-2, 6-2 in the other semifinal.

The second-ranked American is trying to become the tournament's first repeat champion since Pete Sampras in 1991-92.

"He outplayed me for two sets, plain and simple," Roddick said. " I was a little luckier than he was. I'd like to take credit for today, but I don't know."

It was their first match since Ljubicic railed against Roddick after losing to him at the U.S. Open last year. The Croatian said then Roddick was too loud and not liked by other players.

After defeating third-seeded Sebastien Grosjean on Friday to get to Roddick, Ljubicic said he was looking for some revenge against Roddick.

For most of the first two sets, it looked as if he would get it.

Ljubicic frustrated Roddick with well-placed drop shots, forcing him to come to the net from his preferred position slamming forehands from the baseline.

Down 4-1 in the first set, Roddick was warned after he slammed a ball into the stands. He also shook his head or muttered to himself often after errors and changed rackets in the 12th game of the second set.

Right on target

But his shots were right on target when they had to be. He saved three match points in the second-set tiebreaker.

Roddick hit service winners at 6-5 and 8-7. And at 10-9, he hit a 126 mph ace, then another ace at 120 mph to get to set point, then evened the match when the 10th-seeded Ljubicic double-faulted.

The long tie-breaker seemed to take its toll on Ljubicic, who was coming off a gruelling match against Grosjean in the quarterfinals. He laboured noticeably in the final set and didn't have enough in the tank to hang with Roddick in the tie-breaker.

"Maybe I just lost a lot of energy saving all those points," Ljubicic said.

While Ljubicic surprisingly showcased the better serve with 24 aces to Roddick's 11, Roddick came up with the big serves when he needed them most.

"It's difficult to say why I lost. I don't feel like I lost," Ljubicic said. "I cannot say I'm disappointed, because I did everything well."

Except for in the final tiebreaker, when he faded after Roddick uncorked a 146-mph ace to go up 5-2.

Kiefer kept Carraz off balance with an array of drop shots and lobs to the back corner. Carraz did not help himself with several unforced errors. Down 4-2 in the second set, Carraz screamed at himself after hitting a shot into the net.

Kiefer is headed to his fourth final of the season, and second in a row, but has yet to win this year. He lost to Tommy Haas in last week's final of the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles.

When asked how he matched up with the hard-serving Roddick, the German said, "What should I think? I feel very good. My return is very good. It's a question of breaking his serve. Ljubicic did that today."

Injured wrist

A bum wrist cut short the latest chapter in the rivalry between Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport at the JPMorgan Chase Open semifinals at Carson on Saturday. Davenport led 7-5, 2-0 when Venus retired because of a right wrist injury.

Venus said she tweaked it while pushing off her arms to get up after tying her shoe two hours before the match. However, a doctor who examined Venus diagnosed it as a sprain and advised her to rest until Monday, when she will be re-evaluated.

"At 3-0, I started to have issues," Venus said. "I just couldn't control my forehand that much and the more she saw that, the more she was hitting there and that didn't help."

Davenport advanced to the final for the eighth time in nine years, having won three titles. The American will play top-seeded Serena Williams, who defeated No. 4 Elena Dementieva of Russia 6-3, 7-6(2).

"I'm happy to be in the final, but I know the playing conditions weren't level," Davenport said. "You can't have tons of confidence from that."

Davenport hasn't beaten Serena since the 2000 U.S. Open quarterfinals, with Serena winning five in a row since then, including a straight-set victory on clay at Charleston in April.

The results: At Indianapolis (RCA Championships): Semifinals: Andy Roddick bt Ivan Ljubicic 1-6, 7-6(10), 7-6(3); Nicolas Kiefer bt Gregory Carraz 6-2, 6-2.

At Carson (JPMorgan Chase Open): Semifinals: Lindsay Davenport bt Venus Williams 7-5, 2-0, retd.; Serena Williams bt Elena Dementieva 6-3, 7-6(2). — AP

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