Top Seeds Staggered at Open, and One Falls
By the time Andy Roddick was John Isner’s age, he had won a United States Open and graced three other Grand Slam finals. Isner’s elder by three years, Roddick, 27, has ruled American tennis since Pete Sampras’s retirement in 2002, but this summer the seeds of an insurrection sprouted, pushing up through the cracks in the hard courts.
Last month in Mason, Ohio, Sam Querrey sent Roddick to a second-round defeat at a Masters Series event. On Saturday, Querrey’s doubles partner, Isner, pulled off the first major upset of this Open on the men’s side, beating Roddick 7-6(3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6(5) in a third-round day match at Arthur Ashe Stadium that ended after 9 p.m.
“I felt great out there,” Isner said. “I had to play the match of my life to beat him on that stage, in that setting.”
Roddick saved three match points with aces — one in the fourth set and two in the last tie break — only to net a return with the match on Isner’s racket.
“It’s tough,” Roddick said. “I don’t know I’ve come to a tournament with as much confidence — into a Slam — as I did with this tournament, and leaving earlier than I want to.”
It was the first time that Roddick, the 2003 champion, has lost at the Open to an American since Sampras ended his run in the 2002 quarterfinals. Roddick became the first top-10 seed to fall on the men’s side on a day in which top-ranked Roger Federer and No. 4 Novak Djokovic struggled but ultimately survived.
Federer dispatched his longtime nemesis, Lleyton Hewitt, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 and Djokovic put away an unknown, Jesse Witten, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-4.
Until Saturday, it had been the EZ-Pass Open for the men in the top 10. Among them, they had dropped two sets. Roddick had lost 16 games in his first two matches but then he ran into an elongated clone of himself in Isner, a hard-serving, forehand-crushing baseliner who is a shade over 6 feet 9 inches.
Isner, who played collegiately at Georgia, has ascended to a career-high No. 55 since returning in May after missing two months with mononucleosis. He wore down as the match moved into its fourth hour, taking more time between serves and coming to the net less often.
Somehow, Isner mustered the strength to beat Roddick at what they both do best, producing 38 aces to Roddick’s 20 and 18 forehand winners to Roddick’s 11. The tie break, too, is usually Roddick’s domain, but Isner has won 16 of his last 17. The loss was a giant step backward for Roddick, who expected to contend for the championship after pushing Federer to the limit in the Wimbledon final in July.
“In the fifth set, I knew I wanted to finish it before it got to a tie breaker and kind of became a shootout,” Roddick said. “It didn’t happen. He came up with the goods at the end.”
So did Federer. When he and Hewitt last met, last month in Mason, Ohio, Hewitt was not able to earn a break point against Federer, who has quietly developed the most wicked serve in the game, Roddick’s 140 mile-per-hour missiles notwithstanding.
It was a different story this time as Hewitt earned 14 break points and converted two, both in the opening set. Federer had 13 winners and 23 unforced errors in the first 10 games, his mistakes costing him the first set.
His play after that was more like Federer’s; he produced 38 winners against 36 unforced errors to send Hewitt to defeat for the 14th consecutive time in 24 meetings.
Having to swerve to avoid a loss in the first week of a Grand Slam event has its bright side (provide one survives to learn from it). The scare alerts the senses and steels one’s focus.
“There’s no more, like, ‘Okay, let’s not try to waste any time out there and get through the match,’ ” Federer said. “It’s like, ‘All right, I hope I can still turn this around,’ because I knew the danger. You try to pick the right plays and, you know, adjust your serve if you have to or the footwork or your tactics from the baseline.”
While Federer was orchestrating his comeback against Hewitt, Djokovic was grinding out his victory against Witten. Their third-round match at Louis Armstrong Stadium was as pretty as a bruise. The players combined for 19 double faults, and Djokovic had 22 more unforced errors than winners.
Djokovic has won two titles this year, but Witten, ranked No. 276, made him sweat. Djokovic’s hands were so slick with perspiration, he lost his grip on his racket during a point in one of his service games in the third set.
Like a baseball player whose bat splinters on a ground ball and takes flight, Djokovic’s serve landed fair and his racket landed foul in the other service box. “I get the sweat a lot,” Djokovic said, adding, “and then I just didn’t squeeze the racket. You know, when you want to make it faster, obviously you have to pop it with the wrist really fast, and then I just dropped the racket. It was embarrassing.”
There was an upside to playing Witten, who went for broke on every shot and was successful enough times to put the fear of defeat in Djokovic.
“Well, I think those matches have to appear sometime during the tournament,” he said. “Maybe the good thing is that I have played this match in the third round.”
Tennis is full of funny bounces. You can play poorly against a weaker opponent, as Djokovic did, and advance. And you can play well against an inspired opponent, as Roddick did against Isner, and lose.
“The fact that I was able to make a quarterfinal last year,” Roddick said, “and I was playing just terrible, didn’t make it past the third round this year, that’s just the way it is sometimes.”
By the time Andy Roddick was John Isner’s age, he had won a United States Open and graced three other Grand Slam finals. Isner’s elder by three years, Roddick, 27, has ruled American tennis since Pete Sampras’s retirement in 2002, but this summer the seeds of an insurrection sprouted, pushing up through the cracks in the hard courts.
Last month in Mason, Ohio, Sam Querrey sent Roddick to a second-round defeat at a Masters Series event. On Saturday, Querrey’s doubles partner, Isner, pulled off the first major upset of this Open on the men’s side, beating Roddick 7-6(3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6(5) in a third-round day match at Arthur Ashe Stadium that ended after 9 p.m.
“I felt great out there,” Isner said. “I had to play the match of my life to beat him on that stage, in that setting.”
Roddick saved three match points with aces — one in the fourth set and two in the last tie break — only to net a return with the match on Isner’s racket.
“It’s tough,” Roddick said. “I don’t know I’ve come to a tournament with as much confidence — into a Slam — as I did with this tournament, and leaving earlier than I want to.”
It was the first time that Roddick, the 2003 champion, has lost at the Open to an American since Sampras ended his run in the 2002 quarterfinals. Roddick became the first top-10 seed to fall on the men’s side on a day in which top-ranked Roger Federer and No. 4 Novak Djokovic struggled but ultimately survived.
Federer dispatched his longtime nemesis, Lleyton Hewitt, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 and Djokovic put away an unknown, Jesse Witten, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-4.
Until Saturday, it had been the EZ-Pass Open for the men in the top 10. Among them, they had dropped two sets. Roddick had lost 16 games in his first two matches but then he ran into an elongated clone of himself in Isner, a hard-serving, forehand-crushing baseliner who is a shade over 6 feet 9 inches.
Isner, who played collegiately at Georgia, has ascended to a career-high No. 55 since returning in May after missing two months with mononucleosis. He wore down as the match moved into its fourth hour, taking more time between serves and coming to the net less often.
Somehow, Isner mustered the strength to beat Roddick at what they both do best, producing 38 aces to Roddick’s 20 and 18 forehand winners to Roddick’s 11. The tie break, too, is usually Roddick’s domain, but Isner has won 16 of his last 17. The loss was a giant step backward for Roddick, who expected to contend for the championship after pushing Federer to the limit in the Wimbledon final in July.
“In the fifth set, I knew I wanted to finish it before it got to a tie breaker and kind of became a shootout,” Roddick said. “It didn’t happen. He came up with the goods at the end.”
So did Federer. When he and Hewitt last met, last month in Mason, Ohio, Hewitt was not able to earn a break point against Federer, who has quietly developed the most wicked serve in the game, Roddick’s 140 mile-per-hour missiles notwithstanding.
It was a different story this time as Hewitt earned 14 break points and converted two, both in the opening set. Federer had 13 winners and 23 unforced errors in the first 10 games, his mistakes costing him the first set.
His play after that was more like Federer’s; he produced 38 winners against 36 unforced errors to send Hewitt to defeat for the 14th consecutive time in 24 meetings.
Having to swerve to avoid a loss in the first week of a Grand Slam event has its bright side (provide one survives to learn from it). The scare alerts the senses and steels one’s focus.
“There’s no more, like, ‘Okay, let’s not try to waste any time out there and get through the match,’ ” Federer said. “It’s like, ‘All right, I hope I can still turn this around,’ because I knew the danger. You try to pick the right plays and, you know, adjust your serve if you have to or the footwork or your tactics from the baseline.”
While Federer was orchestrating his comeback against Hewitt, Djokovic was grinding out his victory against Witten. Their third-round match at Louis Armstrong Stadium was as pretty as a bruise. The players combined for 19 double faults, and Djokovic had 22 more unforced errors than winners.
Djokovic has won two titles this year, but Witten, ranked No. 276, made him sweat. Djokovic’s hands were so slick with perspiration, he lost his grip on his racket during a point in one of his service games in the third set.
Like a baseball player whose bat splinters on a ground ball and takes flight, Djokovic’s serve landed fair and his racket landed foul in the other service box. “I get the sweat a lot,” Djokovic said, adding, “and then I just didn’t squeeze the racket. You know, when you want to make it faster, obviously you have to pop it with the wrist really fast, and then I just dropped the racket. It was embarrassing.”
There was an upside to playing Witten, who went for broke on every shot and was successful enough times to put the fear of defeat in Djokovic.
“Well, I think those matches have to appear sometime during the tournament,” he said. “Maybe the good thing is that I have played this match in the third round.”
Tennis is full of funny bounces. You can play poorly against a weaker opponent, as Djokovic did, and advance. And you can play well against an inspired opponent, as Roddick did against Isner, and lose.
“The fact that I was able to make a quarterfinal last year,” Roddick said, “and I was playing just terrible, didn’t make it past the third round this year, that’s just the way it is sometimes.”
Source: New York Times
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