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6/27/08 4:09 AM | Jonathan Morgan
James Blake started it out with a long 5 setter with semi-retired Rainer Schuettler, who could easily be mistaken as a coach rather than a player. Schuettler's best days are clearly behind him, but he managed to string this win together due to Blake's patchy inconsistent play, along with a nicely working slice from the German.
After dropping the first set, Blake rallied to win the 2nd and 3rd and was up 3-1 in the 4th, looking to close it out in 4. Serving at 3-1, however, he was broken at love and the downward spiral began. Rainer took the 4th set in stunning fashion while the 5th set provided great thrills and drama. Once it got to a 5th, you knew Blake would lose it given his less than thrilling 5 set record. Of course, that is exactly what happened, and Schuettler advances.
Then, Janko Tipsarevic took out Andy Roddick in 4 tight sets in a rematch of their match here back in 2006 in the first round. Even then, Janko showed he had game, losing in a good 4 set battle. This time, however, he came in ready to finish the job. After taking a hotly contested and tight first set tiebreak, Roddick looked to take the lead. However, as the American was easily holding serve, so was Tipsarevic. Instead of being aggresive off returns, Roddick resorted to his 2005-06 style of playing where he passively pushed his shots allowing Tipsarevic to be aggresive. A break in the 5 all game allowed Tipsarevic to serve it out.
The 3rd set was more of the same as Roddick was broken in one game, all the Serb needed. Janko played an extremely smart match, defending when he needed to, attacking when necessary, and serving bombs at the best possible times. After taking the 3rd, the 4th remained on serve into the tiebreak. Roddick got up 4-2 then fell apart, losing 5 straight points and the match along with it.
Ironically enough, Bobby Reynolds is the only American left in the draw, and the American men did better at Roland Garros than Wimbledon.
Even more insane is the fact that Roddick gained more points from ONE clay tournament than he gained from TWO grass events!
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RafaNadalGirl20, Aug 29, 2008 7:35 PM
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RafaNadalGirl20, Aug 29, 2008 7:35 PM
RickyDimon, Aug 29, 2008 3:08 PM
agf25agf, Aug 28, 2008 1:21 PM
cherylmurray, Aug 27, 2008 3:10 PM
BernieEliza, Aug 27, 2008 9:19 AM
Allez, Aug 29, 2008 9:07 PM
elle, Aug 29, 2008 7:27 PM
elle, Aug 29, 2008 7:25 PM
