Help
© Tennistalk.com
|
|
© Tennistalk.com
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
3/8/08 8:37 PM | Jonathan Morgan
Andy Roddick threw down 22 aces and never faced a break point in an excellent match, defeating Feliciano Lopez, 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-2 for his 2nd title in 3 weeks.
Andy Roddick was the best player this week as he won the title without even losing his serve. He beat Nadal, Djokovic, and now Lopez to win his 25th title.
The match started off with Roddick and Lopez serving great and having excellent baseline exchanged. Lopez continually hit his backhand slice approach shot and moved into the net to hit off volleys. Lopez served up 10 aces in the first set alone to Roddick's measely 9 aces. 3 break points Lopez faced, with big serves helping him out to hold. In the tiebreak, the players exchanged big serving and set points in a very well played tiebreak. Lopez took it 10 points to 8.
In the 2nd set, Lopez's fine play continued as both players were able to hold and play excellent. Lopez's first mishap was at 4-4 ad Roddick when Lopez threw in a double fault to give Roddick the break. After that, his level began to fall while Roddick's remained the same. Roddick served out the second set and romped the 3rd, losing just 4 points on serve and breaking Lopez twice to take the title.
When the players came to net at the end of the match to shake hands, a graceful exchange of words was heard:
Roddick- “I can't imagine you ever playing so well, but you still lost?”
Lopez- “Yeah, thank you Andy.”
Said Roddick after the match about his play:
“The whole time I felt like I was playing well. It's not like I'm down a set and it's 4-all and I'm struggling to hit the ball; every point I was confident I was going to play the point I wanted to.”
Roddick was also very pleased wit how he played from the back of the court, especially with his backhand:
“The biggest thing for me this week was the way I would hit my forehand to control matches, but today it was actually my crosscourt backhand that kind of controlled the match and set the tempo of the rallies. I was winning in different ways which is a good sign.”
As mentioned above, it was Lopez's backhand slice that was troubling Roddick at the start and Andy needed to fix some things mid-match:
“It is known on the tour that his backhand is probably the weaker wing, but on this court with the wind swirling a lot, his slice was bothering me a lot more than his forehand was. I was going to his slice and he was cutting it and getting in behind it pretty well, so second and third sets I started hitting the ball hard and flat to his forehand and he was having to come up on it. I felt I was controlling the rallies from there, so I actually almost went backwards from what logic would tell you and it worked out for me tonight.”
He is also hopeful of a future return to Dubai:
“I hope I get an invite back next year. I really enjoyed it.”
Both players will now fly to Indian Wells to play in the first Masters Event of the 2008 season.
Both players played fantastic today and all week. Neither have anything to be ashamed of.
That tough double fault at 4 all in the second set really did Lopez in.
Tell a friend »
Did you know that... In the beginning of 2000, Vincent Spadea lost 21 consecutive ATP matches.
RickyDimon, Dec 3, 2008 5:21 AM
posmatrac, Dec 3, 2008 4:30 AM
Navratilovastillplay, Dec 3, 2008 12:32 AM
tennisgirl, Dec 1, 2008 11:48 PM
lendl, Dec 1, 2008 6:17 PM
Navratilovastillplay, Dec 3, 2008 1:32 AM
Casper, Dec 2, 2008 8:23 PM
Casper, Dec 2, 2008 8:02 PM
Feliciano Lopez
Andy Roddick
Dubai Tennis Championships
Contact us
/ About us
/ Cookies
/ Recommended links
/ Advertise
/ Sitemap
Tennistalk v1.3.0
complete agreement. That double-fault at 4-all was the match. Other than that it was high-quality tennis from both.
RickyDimon , 3/9/08 12:08 AM