Legg Mason Report: Roddick Picks Up 500th Win, Trip to Quarters
Andy Roddick earned his 500th career win yesterday evening, defeating fellow American Sam Querrey in Rock Creek Park. The milestone puts him in an elite rank of only four active players that includes Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, and Carlos Moya. The win puts him in today's quarterfinal round.
Service was uncharacteristically off for both players in the early going of the match, with each dropping their first service game in a back-and-forth set. Querrey showed from the outset that he was not intimidated by Roddick, cleanly returning most of what the tournament's top seed could throw his way. Each player felt the other out through several lengthy baseline volleys. Querrey forced Roddick to make several defensive lobs, one so gift-wrapped that Querrey had plenty of time and height to smash the ball far above Roddick's head and into the stands.
But as Roddick stayed composed and worked to keep Querrey moving, a call from Hawkeye -- tennis's high tech review system -- finally went his way to confirm a double fault, and the set was officially Andy's.
"The first game was terrible [but] I've been able to kind of get over stuff a little bit faster, and stay on course," said Roddick of the set. "When I broke back the second time, I said 'this is my set to win now,' and it worked out that way."
Roddick relied on several crisp passing shots for winners in the second -- and as the set progressed, he took advantage of an early break (the only one of the set) to advance. His 7 p.m. match tonight against Ivo Karlovic pits two prolific servers against each other, where tiebreaks every set would hardly come as a shock.
Hewitt Out, Six of Top Eight Seeds Through to Quarterfinals
It was the first match of the evening that paved the way for what would be a long night at Legg Mason. Tommy Haas smashed 19 aces past Jose Ferrero in what would have been a marquee match-up back in 2002. After a comeback victory for Haas in the first set, he picked up only four points off of Ferrero's serve as the Spaniard cruised in the second. But Hass returned that favor in the final set, landing 70 percent of his first serves and taking only 24 minutes, less than half of what he needed in the first, to steamroll the Spaniard in the decisive third.
In the following match, Australian Lleyton Hewitt fought off two match points and broke Juan Martin del Potro's serve to even the final set, eventually setting up a decisive tiebreak. But the Argentine's strong service game was enough to end Hewitt's run. Only a handful of fans stayed after Roddick's match to see fan favorite John Isner through to the quarterfinals. Wayne Odesnik, another darling of the tourney after his Wednesday night win, fell to Fernando Gonzalez (6-2, 6-4).
Seven players remain as of this moment -- the #4 seed Gonzalez took out #10 seed Haas (7-5, 6-4) in today's opening match. Robin Soderling (#5) vs. Juan Carlos del Potro (#2) follows that match. This evening, Isner, the only non-seeded player left, faces #8 Tomas Berdych after Roddick's match against #11 seed Karlovic.