Legg Mason Report: Roddick, Hewitt Roll
Crowd favorite Andy Roddick had little trouble with Benjamin Becker last night, cruising to a straight set victory (6-3, 6-2) in his first match of the tournament. After an extended break since his defeat to Roger Federer in the Wimbeldon final, Roddick was far from the top of his service game, landing only 58 percent of his firsts and routinely hitting in the one hundred and teens -- though at one point he did hit 145 mph on the radar gun. But his arching, powerful forehand and ability to paint the lines was more than enough for a victory in a tight 55 minutes. Speaking of his first match in four weeks, Roddick said that his "movement felt real good. I felt that I had decent control over spins and placement and good ball control." He acknowledged the large stadium court crowd -- organizers announced a sold-out evening -- who rewarded him with thunderous applause that only grew louder when the emcee acknowledged his performance at Wimbledon last month.
With Wednesday's main event unsurprisingly a cakewalk for the tournament's top seed, the evening's side court matches provided nail-biting volleys, marathon games, and packed bleachers filled with at times raucous fans right on top of the action. It's an atmosphere only really achievable on the smaller courts and at American tourneys where excessive screaming can be (and is) part of the action.
A small but vocal group of Dudi Sela supporters rallied for their favorite Israeli, with shirtless highschoolers continuously shouting the little Hebrew they knew to the encouragement of their man and the amusement and irritation of most everyone else around them, probably including Sela. (One wonders too how many times a player can have "kadima, kadima" -- translated as "forward" -- shouted at them by 16-year-olds or told you have the heart of a lion before it loses effectiveness.) Lleyton Hewitt, the former world #1 who also is a crowd favorite in the States, relied on his composure and strong baseline play in a see-saw of a match to finish off Sela, and his fans, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
On a neighboring court, Wayne Odesnik was pummeled 6-2 in his opening set with Igor Andreev, and dropped three games in a row in set number two -- that is, before winning the next four games to take the set 7-5. Down 5-4 in the decisive third set and serving, Andreev fought off three match points, and both players took turns arguing close calls with the umpire in a taut final game. When Odesnik finally prevailed after five deuces, supporters, with no barrier in the way, streamed on to the court and embraced the young American they had helped will on to victory. In a similarly riveting late-night match, fans braving the approaching midnight hour saw John Isner come back from one set down to win two tiebreaks and the match against number 3 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Tonight's schedule offers a couple of compelling matches, again led by Roddick, who meets fellow American Sam Querrey, an emerging 21-year-old coming off a win in last week's L.A. Open. "We do a lot of the same things," said Roddick when asked about his next opponent. "He obviously plays very big. He's a big guy. He's in form having won last week in L.A. It's certainly not going to be easy for me."
That match will follow Hewitt's first major challenge, a date with last year's champ and current world #6 Juan Carlos del Potro. Organizers are expecting another sold out evening, but tickets are currently still available at the box office with no convenience charge, through Ticketmaster, or via Craig. Rain is possible this afternoon (something to consider with matches scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.), though the forecast calls for a dry evening.