[情報] Roddick Wins Siebel Open
Roddick Wins Siebel Open
By DARREN SABEDRA
San Jose Mercury News
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Just when Andy Roddick seemed to gain the upper hand Sunday,
Mardy Fish answered. And vice versa. On and on it went in this Siebel Open
final, a tiebreaker that might not be forgotten any time soon.
Each player saved four set points before Roddick unloaded a 119 mph serve,
followed by a forehand winner into the corner to take the first set. Roddick
earned the day's only service break late in the second set - on his fifth try
- and that was enough to defeat his former high school housemate 7-6 (15-13),
6-4 at HP Pavilion.
"I was just trying to hang on," Roddick said.
As the match unfolded, it was apparent the young Americans knew a thing or two
about each other. Even when things heated up on the court, they shared laughs
and friendly verbal jabs.
Make no mistake, however, neither wanted to settle for the runner-up's trophy.
"It was pretty intense there for a little bit in the first set and the second
set," Roddick said.
The intensity was clear to see from the outset, as the two booming servers
launched one rocket after another. Roddick yielded only one point in his first
three service games, and there were a combined 11 aces over the first five
games.
All that power led to the match's defining moment, the marathon tiebreaker.
Fish, the third seed, gained the early edge with a mini-break when Roddick
misfired from the baseline to make it 1-0. But the top seed and world No.3
evened things at 3-all when chair umpire Steve Ullrich overruled what would
have been a winner by Fish.
It only got tighter from there, with the set seemingly hinging on every shot.
"It was one of those tiebreakers where anything could happen," Fish said. "It
was pretty good quality. There weren't too many errors. I think all the points
finished in good shots.
"It was just an exciting breaker, that's for sure."
The match remained close until deep into the second set. That was when Fish,
who defeated Andre Agassi in three sets Saturday, began to tire.
But even as the strength in his legs began to go, Fish, 22, kept battling. He
overcame four break points in the ninth game before sending a forehand long to
put the match on Roddick's racket.
That is never a good sign. Roddick, 21, lost just one of his 50 service games
during the week, consistently firing lasers in the neighborhood of 130 mph.
After he broke serve Sunday, Roddick quickly polished off Fish in the next game
to win his 12th tournament, and first since the U.S. Open last fall.
Roddick finished with 16 aces and put 71 percent of his first serves into play.
Fish had 17 aces but only a 59 percent first-serve success rate.
When it was over, the friends shared a hug and more laughs at the net. The two
have been like brothers, as Roddick put it earlier in the tournament, since
Fish moved into the Roddick family's Florida home in 1999. He did that to be
closer to his coach, who also worked with Roddick.
Now, they are part of America's new tennis generation, one that includes Taylor
Dent, Robby Ginepri and James Blake. If Sunday's match was sign of things to
come, the future looks bright.
"It was awesome," Fish said. "I told Andy after the match that hopefully we can
play many more of these."
This was the first all-American final on tour since Roddick beat Fish in
Cincinnati last August, and the first all-American final here in six years.
"It's great that we're all pushing each other," Roddick said. "By us doing well
this week, it's going to make Taylor, Robby and James want to step up soon.
That's the way it always works.
"That's what made the generation before us so good. Even if they weren't as
tight on a personal level, obviously there is always competitive jealousy,
which I think is a good thing."
There might not have been jealousy Sunday. Just a new breed of players slugging
it out for 95 minutes.
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