Fuente : Wimbledon
http://www.wimbledon.org

WIMBLEDON: Roddick Serves to Victory

/noticias.info/ Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Andy Roddick opened his challenge at Wimbledon with some spectacular serving on No. 1 Court as he beat the Czech Jiri Vanek 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 in one hour and 22 minutes.

The No.2 seed produced 14 aces in a one-sided triumph that saw the American lay the foundations for what he hopes will be a successful run to the final for a second year.

Roddick has never lost in the opening round at Wimbledon in five appearances and with three successive grass court titles under his belt, all won in the pre-Wimbledon tournament at Queen's Club, he has to be a clear favourite to challenge defending champion Roger Federer in a repeat of last year's final.

The conditions suited Roddick completely. It was a hot afternoon, with little breeze and low humidity, and his pace of serve was consistently high. He notched up a speed of 141mph in the sixth game of the third set.

Vanek, with an entry ranking of 100th in the world, had not played at Wimbledon since 2001 - the year when he won his only match against Roddick at Delray Beach. He has never won a match anywhere on grass and Roddick's control ensured that he could not change that record.

The Czech had been beaten by Pete Sampras and the hard working Michael Chang in his two previous appearances at Wimbledon. He started with some assurance, serving an ace to win his first service game, but was broken in the next three service games as the first set was wrenched away from him by Roddick's accuracy. Two double faults in succession ended Vanek's chances of staying in the first set.

But the match altered in the second set, with Roddick losing his serve to love on a double fault to go 2-1 behind. Vanek, increasingly confident and finding a better length, improved his lead to 3-1, only to be pulled back to 3-3.

Vanek survived two break points in the eighth game and stayed with Roddick as the match progressed to a tie-break. Roddick then stepped forward to reach two set points at 6-4, with Vanek falling completely over the net in the decisive rally. Roddick, on serve, gained a two-set lead in a rally that ended with Vanek slipping at the back of the court.

Roddick could now sense victory and he broke Vanek's serve twice to open up a 4-0 lead in the third set. Vanek managed to hold two service games before Roddick served out for victory with an ace for match point, followed by a service winner delivered at 133mph.

Roddick has won three titles this year and in Grand Slam play was a semi-finalist at the Australian and a first round loser in the French Open. Today saw him looking good at Wimbledon.

Written by Barry Newcombe


Court 1 - Gentlemen's Singles - 1st Round
Jiri Vanek CZE 1 6(4) 2
Andy Roddick USA (2) 6 7(7) 6 notas_de_prensa_archivo