The Hindu : Sport : Roddick has the measure of Federer, finally

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Roddick has the measure of Federer, finally

David Ferrer triumphs in Auckland; Blake downs Moya, retains Sydney International title

— Photo: AP

LONG WAIT ENDS: A proud Andy Roddick displays his prize after ending his run of losses against the world's top player Roger Federer at the Kooyong Classic on Saturday.

MELBOURNE : Andy Roddick notched up only his second career victory over Roger Federer by winning the Kooyong Classic 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 on Saturday.

The victory in 80 minutes at the eight-man special event snapped an eight-match losing streak against the Swiss World No. 1 going back to August 2003.

Handing Federer his first defeat in 31 matches was the perfect tonic for Roddick, rejuvenated by coach Jimmy Connors, ahead of the Australian Open that starts on Monday.

"It really needs to be done on a big stage," Roddick said. "But that said, it is nice, my game's going pretty well. I feel good going into the Open.

"My returns are working well and that will get me some looks at some breaks."

Roddick struggled throughout against a swirling wind, but held together in the third set, firing over a pair of aces to claim victory after breaking Federer for a 5-3 lead.

Federer, holder of a dozen titles in 2006, had not lost since his shock defeat to Andy Murray at Cincinnati.

Federer still holds a dominating 13-2 record over Roddick and said he had no worries ahead of the season's first Grand Slam.

"Andy played very well, he had me worried early on. I could have been out of it very quickly, he had such a good start," he said.

Swiss is ready

"But I'm ready for the Australian Open. That's exactly how I want to feel after this event. I couldn't win it, but we had some entertaining matches this week." The Swiss vowed to lift his level at the Open.

"We're going to see much better tennis over there," top seed Federer said of the Open venue, the Rod Laver arena. "Here (at Kooyong) maybe it's a bit more entertaining. You see points you won't see over there. I doubt that you'll see me play like today over there. It's going to be much easier to return, to pass, everything.''

Federer, who beat Roddick for the Kooyong trophy in 2005, has been finding his range at Melbourne Park for more than a week.

``I've been playing over there basically every day and I'll definitely be able to raise my game when I have to because it's going to be much easier,'' he said.

Roddick won the first set on a double break, then could only watch as Federer clawed back to take the second. The third turned on a few shots, with Roddick's late break the key to success.

"They were hard conditions," said Federer. When the wind is blowing it's going to be hard to return Andy's serve.

"But I'm happy with the way it all came out. Andy got the crucial break for the win. But the match was still good."

Sixth title

In Sydney, American James Blake captured his sixth title in 12 months when he beat Spain's Carlos Moya 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 to win the Sydney International for the second year running.

Blake fought off a brave fight-back from Moya to wrap up victory in two hours and join Pete Sampras and Lleyton Hewitt as the only men to win the title in successive years since tennis turned professional in 1968. Moya, runner-up in Sydney in 1997 and again in 2004 when he retired from the final with a twisted ankle, looked to be heading to a straight sets defeat when he trailed 4-0 in the second before fighting back to force a third set.

But Blake, ranked four in the world, ran the Spaniard ragged in the deciding set to gain an early psychological boost over Moya with the pair drawn to play each other on Tuesday in the first round of next week's Australian Open.

Upset victory

Meanwhile at Auckland, Spain's David Ferrer mastered an out-of-sorts top seed Tommy Robredo to win a weather-disrupted Heineken Open here on Saturday.

Third-seed Ferrer beat his more fancied compatriot 6-4, 6-2, playing a more aggressive and varied game against the world number seven, who rarely strayed from behind the baseline.

Although the pair are friends and Davis Cup partners, they have only ever met once previously on the ATP Tour when Robredo won last year in Hamburg.

The results:

At Melbourne (Kooyong Classic): Final: Andy Roddick bt Roger Federer 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Third place playoff: Andy Murray bt Marat Safin 7-6(2), 6-2.

At Auckland (ATP Heineken Open): Final: David Ferrer bt Tommy Robredo 6-4, 6-2.

At Sydney (ATP Medibank International): Singles: Final: James Blake bt Carlos Moya 6-3, 5-7, 6-1. Doubles: Final: Paul Hanley & Kevin Ullyett bt Mark Knowles & Daniel Nestor 6-4, 6-7(3), 10-6.

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