WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina, Aug 21 AP – Andy Roddick ground out a straight-sets victory over James Blake on Monday night in the second round of the Winston-Salem Open tennis tournament.
Roddick, the fifth seed, overcame a shaky start to beat Blake 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (8-6) in the final men’s hardcourt tournament before the US Open.
In other second-round matches, Belgium’s David Goffin upset 10th-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia 3-6 6-4 7-5, while the match between seventh-seeded Sam Querrey and Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo was suspended by rain. It will resume on Tuesday with Querrey having won the first set 6-3.
“I’ve rarely been unhappy walking off the court with any win,” said Roddick, a former world No.1 and US Open champion who has battled injuries the past two years.
“I was fortunate to get through the first set, because (Blake) came out of the gates pretty hot. The second set, I played well. I’ve been lucky a lot in my career. I’m good at winning those type of matches where it doesn’t look that great all the time.”
Roddick had 11 aces, but had to overcome an early break to force a tiebreaker in the first set. He then secured a break in the second set to force another tiebreaker and improve to 9-3 against Blake.
In first-round matches, Lukasz Kubot of Poland defeated Spain’s Tommy Robredo 6-1 2-6 6-2, Michael McClure downed Columbia’s Alejandro Falla 6-1 6-4 while Benjamin Becker of Germany beat Japan’s Tatsuma Ito 6-3 4-6 6-2, and Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky accounted for Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-6 (7-1) 6-4.
Also, Ernests Gulbis of Latvia beat Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq 6-4 7-5, Dutchman Robin Haase ousted Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko 6-2 6-3, Donald Young downed Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 4-6 6-3 6-2 and Slovakia’s Martin Klizan eliminated France’s Benoit Paire.
While Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun defeated Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko 6-3 7-6 (7-3), and Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci advanced when Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis withdrew in the second set because of an injury.
Roddick, Querrey and Troicki were the only top seeds in action on Monday, with the rest opening play on Tuesday.
Among them will be third-seeded John Isner, the tournament’s defending champion, top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, No.2 seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and fourth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine.
