INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, 20 July 2006 — Former world No. 1 Andy Roddick lost just 13 points on serve as the second seed hammered Ramon Delgado 6-3, 6-2 to reach the third round of the Indianapolis Open.
Roddick, who now stands outside the top ten for the first time since late 2002, fired eight aces and improved his record to 13-1 at Indianapolis, which he won in 2003 and 2004.
After taking advice and a training session from former great Jimmy Connors after losing to Briton Andy Murray in the Wimbledon third round, Roddick returns to tennis refreshed and revived.
Jittery defending champion Robby Ginepri overcame a double-fault on match point before finally carving out a 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory over Colombian Alejandro Falla.
It took the American defending champion another three games to prevail in two hours, 16 minutes over the challenger ranked 129.
Ginepri, seeded fourth, admitted that he froze on occasion as emotion took center stage.
South Korea’s Hyung-taik Lee halted the winning run of Mark Philippoussis as he eliminated the Aussie 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in the first round.
Just two days after breaking a trophy drought which had lasted for nearly three years, two-time grand slam finalist Philippoussis was unable to make the quick switch from grass to hardcourt.
The 29-year-old who cut his ranking almost in half to reach 125th in the world as he beat Justin Gimelstob in the weekend final of the ATP Newport event.
The loss in which Philippoussis fired a dozen aces, was balanced by first-round win from 35-year-old Aussie qualifier Wayne Arthurs, who put out Israeli Harel Levy 6-3, 7-5.
South African Wesley Whitehouse eliminated Gimelstob 6-3, 7-5 in the opening round.
Chile’s third-seeded Fernando Gonzalez got off to a quick start after a bye, reaching the third round over American teenager Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-4 in just 67 minutes. Gonzalez brought the 18-year-old ranked 200 back to earth after Querrey’s Monday win. The 16th-ranked Gonzalez improved 24-13 on the season.
Serena Inspired by
Agassi and Seles
In Cincinnati, Serena Williams is taking inspiration from Andre Agassi and Monica Seles as she continues the long, hard road back to the top of women’s tennis.
Injury-hit Williams, the former world number one and seven-time Grand Slam winner, played her first match in six months on Tuesday and looked like she had never been away as she brushed aside second seed Anastasia Myskina 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the Cincinnati Open.
“I can only go up from here. I can’t really go much further down,” said Williams, whose six-month absence was caused by a knee injury which has seen her world-ranking plummet to 139.
“I look at people like Andre Agassi and Monica Seles, and of course what they did. I was always amazed at how Monica came back after so long and did so well. I try to keep that as an inspiration. He who doubts loses.” The hardcourt match-up of Grand Slam winners was no contest.
Williams showed virtually no rust, scoring service breaks in each set to make quick work of Myskina, the 2004 French Open champion.
Williams, whose last tournament was the Australian Open in January, missed the entire claycourt and grasscourt seasons, including the French Open and Wimbledon.
She is trying to develop a rhythm leading up to the US Open, which she has won twice.
“It was important to get a quick start,” Williams, 24, said. “I haven’t had stellar results the last six months, so I probably caught her by surprise. From my perspective, my unforced errors were much lower than usual. “Anastasia often plays really well, so going into the match I knew my errors had to be very low. There’s definitely some rust, but mentally I did better than expected.” Myskina paid tribute to her opponent. “Serena played great,” said the Russian who reached the Eastbourne final and the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
“She stepped forward and just attacked. I was down the whole match; it was going by so quickly and I was under a lot of pressure. I didn’t play my best, but it was tough; we didn’t see her in six months, I didn’t know what to expect.”
