The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Andy Roddick gets past Ginepri to enter last eight

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Friday, Apr 22, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

Andy Roddick gets past Ginepri to enter last eight

"I got by tonight with a couple of points," said Roddick

HOUSTON: Top-seeded Andy Roddick defeated unseeded Robby Ginepri 7-6(6), 6-4 on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships.

Roddick extended his record to 5-0 over Ginepri, but this match wasn't a runaway as neither player lost his serve en route to the first set tiebreaker.

All of Roddick's victories over fellow American Ginepri have been close; four of their last six sets have been decided by tiebreakers.

``He keeps coming up with new ways to try to beat me, and I keep trying to figure out ways to hold him off,'' Roddick said. ``I got by tonight with a couple of points. I'm scratching and clawing and trying to keep it that way.''

Roddick had a 6-3 lead in the tiebreaker before Ginepri tied it at 6-6 and then hit consecutive errors, giving Roddick the first set.

Roddick broke Ginepri in the first and fifth games of the second set, but still had to battle to the end.

Ginepri escaped two match points in the ninth game to hold serve, but Roddick then served for the match and sealed the outcome with an overhead on the third match point.

``It's his serve, he seems to find a way to win,'' Ginepri said. ``The last few times we've played, he wins the tiebreakers. It seems to take the momentum away from me. You've got to keep fighting. One of these days it will come.''

In other second-round matches, seventh-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer outlasted Noam Okun of Israel 2-6, 6-2, 7-5, defending champion and third-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany beat American Jeff Morrison 7-6(4), 6-2.

Safin, Robredo crash out

Argentinean Jose Acasuso took out the top seeded Marat Safin 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the Open Seat Godo at Barcelona while Alberto Martin of Spain upset defending champion Tommy Robredo 6-1, 6-4

The sixth-seeded Robredo, who is ranked 15th by the ATP, returned to action last month after several weeks off due to tendinitis in his shoulder.

Also advancing were fourth-seeded Guillermo Coria who beat Peter Wessels 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-4 and Radek Stepanek, who beat Santiago Ventura 6-3, 6-2. Fourteenth-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela also lost, falling to Argentine countryman Agustin Calleri 6-3, 6-7(9), 7-6(1).

The results: At Houston (U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships): Second round: Andy Roddick bt Robby Ginepri 7-6(6), 6-4; Luis Horna bt Paul Goldstein 6-1, 6-7(7), 7-5; Jurgen Melzer bt Noam Okun 2-6, 6-2, 7-5; Tommy Haas bt Jeff Morrison 7-6(4), 6-2.

At Barcelona (Open Seat Godo): Radek Stepanek bt Santiago Ventura 6-3, 6-2; Alberto Martin bt Tommy Robredo 6-1, 6-4; Guillermo Coria bt Peter Wessels 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-4; Agustin Calleri bt Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3, 6-7(9), 7-6 (1); Dominik Hrbaty bt Potito Starace 6-3, 6-2; Rafael Nadal bt Gilles Muller 6-0, 6-2; Guillermo Canas bt Wayne Arthurs 7-5, 7-6(3); David Ferrer bt Jan Hernych 6-2, 6-3; Jose Acasuso bt Marat Safin 6-4, 6-4; Stanislas Wawrinka bt Paradorn Srichaphan 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(3); Gaston Gaudio bt Felix Mantilla 6-4, 6-2. — Agencies

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