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  • Roddick opens with Robredo at Masters Series Madrid

    10/15/08 12:46 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - Andy Roddick will get his Madrid campaign going with the feature nightcap match on Wednesday. Opponent Tommy Robredo will have the home-court advantage.

    To say Andry Roddick has Tommy Robredo's number would be an understatement. It's more like Roddick owns Robredo. He has beaten the Spaniard on hard courts (three times), clay (twice), grass (twice), and indoor carpet (once). All in all Roddick has a whopping 8-0 record in the head-to-head series against Robredo. If there is any good news for Robredo in that statistic, it's that only two of those encounters came after 2003, and only one since the 2004 U.S. Open.

    Roddick-Robredo part nine will take place in the second round of the Masters Series Madrid, and Robredo actually might have one of his best chances at getting on the scoreboard. Sure, Roddick has turned around a dismal summer slump with recent performances, but he is still far from on fire. The American collapsed against Novak Djokovic at the U.S. Open, lost two rubbers to Spain in a semifinal Davis Cup tie, barely won the title in Beijing against painfully weak competition, and then fell to Tomas Berdych in the Tokyo semifinals. Those results are stellar, but hardly spectacular.

    Like Roddick, Robredo fell to Djokovic at the Open and to Berdych in Tokyo. In between he endured a disconcerting quarterfinal loss to Dudi Sela--who Roddick defeated in the final--in Beijing. Nonetheless, an impressive 2008 campaign has him in 19th place in the points race and Robredo still has to be confident on hard courts simply due to his performances in both singles and doubles at the Open.

    Roddick certainly has the mental edge in this match thanks to his past history with Robredo, and the slick indoor hard courts will also favor him. Current form is probably about equal, while Robredo has the edge with a home-court advantage in Spain. The question is whether or not Robredo can get out to quick start, bring the crowd into the match, and fluster Roddick with the help of the fans. If he can do that--and catch Roddick on an off serving day--Robredo could make this as close as this year's Rome encounter (Roddick won in a third-set tiebreaker) if not send the No. 8 seed packing altogether. The pick, however, is Roddick in three.

Check out Andy Roddick and Tommy Robredo head-to-head statistics
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