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8/20/10 7:58 AM | Ricky Dimon
Andy Roddick goes the distance to defeat Robin Soderling on Thursday night in Cincinnati. Next up for a Roddick is Novak Djokovic.
Andy Roddick worked overtime for a hard-fought at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters on Thursday night, surviving Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-7(7), 7-6(5). Roddick had a match point to get the job done in straight sets, but he ended up needing two hours and 44 minutes and a third-set tiebreaker to reach the quarterfinals.
The American started off comfortably enough, extending his opponent to seven deuces at 1-1 in the first set before eventually breaking for a 3-2 lead two games later. Roddick also came out in impeccable serving form, as he cracked 13 aces without double-faulting in the first set. A routine service hold at 5-4 punctuated with an ace finished off the opening frame of play in style.
Soderling appeared to headed for a relatively quick exit when donated serve at love in the fifth game of the second set, spraying four consecutive forehand errors. The fifth-ranked Swede, however, struck right back for 3-3 and from there both players held en route to a tiebreaker. Only two early mini-breaks were exchange as Roddick soon gained match point at 6-5, but Soderling survived it with a big forehand. Soderling earned a decisive mini-break at 7-7 with another crushing forehand and finished the set off on serve one game later thanks to a Roddick backhand error.
Both players held all the way to the third-set tiebreaker. Roddick did not run into any trouble on serve whereas Soderling saved an amazing eight break points, including three match points at 5-6. The No. 5 seed thwarted one more match point at 6-4 in the tiebreaker, but against Roddick's serve on the next point, Soderling had a good chance to come in behind a forehand but sent it long.
Soderling wrapped up his effort with 15 aces, but he double-faulted eight times and won barely more than half of his second-serve points. Roddick finished with 26 aces and four double-faults to set up a quarterfinal showdown with Novak Djokovic.
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