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3/4/11 6:56 PM | Ricky Dimon
Andy Roddick beats Nicolas Massu on Friday in Santiago, Chile. The United States has a 1-0 lead in the first-round Davis Cup tie.
Andy Roddick was playing on the road and on his worst surface, but he simply had too much game for Nicolas Massu on Friday.
Roddick took down Massu 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to give the United States a 1-0 lead over Chile in the Davis Cup first round. The American needed two hours and 49 minutes to put his country in front heading into a singles rubber between John Isner and Paul Capdeville.
Faced with the pressure of playing a match that he almost had to win to give the host nation a real shot of springing a first-round surprise, Massu came out slow. The 31-year-old dropped serve twice in the first set and won just a single point in four return games. Roddick's second break of the afternoon at 5-2 finished off the opening frame of play in style.
Massu, however, battled back admirably in the second. He fought off three break chances to consolidate what proved to be his only break of the match and he evened the score with a hold at 5-4.
Despite seeing the Chilean crowd go into a frenzy, Roddick quickly regained control. The world No. 8 seized the upper hand when his opponent double-faulted on break point midway through the third set. Massu had four opportunities to break back, but Roddick held on and eventually served things out at 5-3.
It was all but over when Massu sent a forehand well long on break point early in the fourth. This time Roddick completely shut the door, losing a mere five points in his last five service games without coming close to facing a break point. A final hold at 5-4 ended Chile's hopes of putting the early pressure on their heavily-favored opponents.
Roddick recorded only four aces and double-faulted five times, but he fired 75 winners to just 40 unforced errors. Massu wrapped up his effort with 55 winners and 50 errors. Roddick improved to 2-3 lifetime against Massu and earned his first clay-court win of the series in three tries.
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