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| October 16, 2003 | Thursday | Sha'aban 19, 1424 |
Roddick spearheads American assault
MADRID, Oct 15: Second seed Andy Roddick edged past big-serving Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-1 6-7 7-5 at the Madrid Masters on Wednesday in a morning session dominated by America’s young guns.
Roddick, the U.S. Open champion and world number two, made an almost perfect start to the second-round clash, taking the first set in 26 minutes with a series of drilled forehand winners.
Mirnyi gradually found a better rhythm on his serve in the second set and managed to hold the American at bay, eventually levelling the match with an 11-9 win on the tiebreak.
The third set followed a similar pattern to the second, with both players staying out of trouble on their own serves until game 11, when Roddick earned a break point and took it with a fierce return that forced a Mirnyi mistake on the volley.
That gave Roddick a 6-5 lead and he served out to complete victory in exactly two hours.
Roddick was the third 21-year-old American to post victory on Wednesday.
A perfect morning for U.S. tennis began with Robby Ginepri’s 6-2 6-4 win over number four seed Rainer Schuettler.
The German came into the tournament on a roll after claiming back-to-back title wins in Tokyo and Lyon but he was hardly given a chance by Ginepri, who wrapped up victory in 57 minutes.
Ginepri served 10 aces, including three in the final game as he closed out the match in style.
Mardy Fish, who downed Britain’s Tim Henman in the first round, then completed a 7-6 6-2 victory over Spain’s Tommy Robredo.
Second Round:
Andy Roddick (USA) bt Max Mirnyi (BLR) 6-1, 6-7 (9/11), 7-5;
Robby Ginepri (USA) bt Rainer Schuettler (GER x4) 6-2, 6-4;
Sebastien Grosjean (FRA) bt David Ferrer (SPA) 6-4, 6-2;
Mardy Fish (USA) bt Tommy Robredo (SPA) 7-6 (16/14), 6-2.
Dokic in quarterfinals:
ZURICH: Unseeded Jelena Dokic hit back to secure a place in the quarterfinals of the Swisscom Challenge on Wednesday with a 4-6 7-5 6-1 defeat of American Alexandra Stevenson.
Dokic, who was a beaten finalist here in 2001 but lost to Stevenson in the second round last year, recovered strongly from a set down to secure her first victory over the American on the indoor carpet surface.
Yugoslav Dokic will now take on either third-seed Amelie Mauresmo or defending champion Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.
Seventh seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia saw off the challenge of American Amy Frazier to progress into the quarter-finals with a 6-3 7-5 victory in the opening match of the day.
Stevenson, unseeded like Dokic, immediately showed her strengths when she fired three aces in her first service game having pushed Dokic all the way to deuce in the opening game.
Stevenson broke serve in the fifth game when 20-year-old Dokic hit the ball long and the American finished the set with a comfortable love game.
The decisive point of the second set came when Stevenson, serving to stay in the set, lost out to Dokic in several long rallies. Dokic, the world number 25, took the match to a decider when her opponent hit wide on set point.
Stevenson’s loss of concentration helped Dokic build a 3-0 lead in the third set before the American recovered to get on the scoreboard.
But Dokic now had a spring in her step and took her next game to love, broke serve again as Stevenson began to hit long and wide, and finished the match off with a gentle drop shot.
Zvonareva was broken in the opening game, but recovered to take the first set against American qualifier Frazier, ranked 75th in the world.
Frazier, who defeated Spain’s Conchita Martinez in the first round, twice broke her Russian opponent in the second set but she then lost her own serve for a third time to go 6-5 down and Zvonareva served out her victory.
Second Round
Jelena Dokic (YUG) bt Alexandra Stevenson (USA) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1;
Vera Zvonareva (RUS) bt Amy Frazier (USA) 6-3, 7-5.—Reuters
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