Andy Roddick jumped out of the blocks quickly today before meeting some resistance from Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands in their opening round match at Hisense Arena.
The men’s seventh seed eased through in straight sets, prevailing 6-1 6-4 6-4 after de Bakker raised his game in the second and third sets.
Roddick was in complete control early as he pushed his opponent around the court at will, taking the first set 6-1.
In the second, a rain delay held up the match at 2-2 despite it being played at Hisense Arena – which has a roof. Unfortunately for the players, the roof had been left open, causing a 20-minute delay.
The pause in play may have helped world No.80 de Bakker to relax a little as he worked his way into the game following the delay, but Roddick got the required break and took the set 6-4.
It was a similar story in the third set as de Bakker tried hard, but the damage had been done, and the match was Roddick’s in just over two hours.
Roddick saved all seven break points he faced and converted four out of the 15 opportunities that came his way.
“I thought I played the right way,” said Roddick after the match. “I could have executed probably a little bit better at times.
“But overall I thought it was pretty good. You know, first rounds are always a little uncomfortable, especially at a slam. You know, you're kind of built up, you're maybe a little bit over-anxious.”
Roddick moved well throughout the match, chasing down several de Bakker drop shots and giving his repaired knee a good workout. At one point, Roddick tripped over the legs of a linesperson, but no harm was done.
“I didn't see him. He wasn't really trying to do much to get out of the way ... Normally they see a player running full speed, they decide to at least move or catch the player.”
“But, you know, it's a good sign that I can kind of take that. You know, it didn't do too much to me.”
Looking at the post-match statistics, Roddick didn’t win his points in the manner tennis spotters are accustomed to – a bundle of aces backed up by a stack of winners.
De Bakker hit 17 aces to Roddick’s seven, which is surprising considering Roddick is the holder of the fastest serve record and last year was ranked second behind serving giant Ivo Karlovic for total number of aces served.
And while de Bakker hit 43 winners to Roddick’s 25, most of them were undone by the 42 unforced errors that came from the Dutchman’s racquet.
What made the difference was that Roddick won 100 points overall to de Bakker’s 79 and came out with a ‘W’ against his name.
The former world No.1 did what he needed to during the match to get himself into the second round – the victory may not have shown off the devastating power game that Roddick is known for, but was perhaps a win from a player who has realised there is more than one way to get the job done.
Roddick’s next job will come in the second round against the winner between Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci and Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili.
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